New kindle

So with my garage sale money I decided it was time to get a new kindle. Mine is about 6 years old and it's cover is cracked as well as the audio option won't work with head phones it cuts in and out and the screen freezes. So I ordered it at the beginning of May. I started browsing  free and on sale books. Not that I needed more! Lol. May came and went and my kindle case shipped and arrived but my kindle still never arrived. Now June is coming to an end and it's still not here. It says it should be here by this Tuesday. I hope that's the case cause 2 months seems way to long  to weight for something specially when it stated it should ship and arrive in 2 weeks. The excitement has worn off cause it kept saying it was gonna ship and never did. I will likely get excited when it actually arrives. It will be neat to see the new features and the size difference. It's also touch screen where as mine wasn't. Oh how technology changes so fast a few months and your phone is out dated so I can imagine with 6 year difference in technology. I'm gonna keep my old one to listen to audio books in the garden.

Read more in the winter

I always think I'm gonna enjoy the yard and sit out with a cool drink and read. But every summer it never seems to happen. Winter seems to be my high reading time. It's so cold and my body doesn't do well with cold so it's easier to stay in and curl up with a book and my heating pad. In summer I wanna get out with family, friends and the dogs enjoy the weather and summer activities. And to top it off I also love to garden and work in the yard. So when I am at home I like to get out and do that. And then I'm usually over heated and will come in and relax and read a bit. My plan is to enjoy and sit out and read at least once this summer. That is if the mosquitos aren't to bad. Otherwise I will have to wait for a day with a nice breeze to keep them away.
When and where do you do most of your reading?

From cane to walking 40 min

the past few years have been a huge struggle. Every day and everything I do has the ability to set me back. Going on vacation, being sick or doing to much.Something as simple as dishes and laundry can cause enough pain I'm sick in bed the rest of the day. The past year I have gone from relying on a cane and barely being able to walk from the bed to the couch. To being able to walk about 40 min a day. It's slow pace and knocks me down so I can't do much else for the day. But it's a huge deal. I never thought I would be able to walk my dogs again which made me so sad. The look on their faces when we get back and they are tired out from the walk is the best ever and warms my heart. I may be on the couch dizzy and in pain for the rest go the afternoon but it's worth it. It has taken a lot to get this far. I started with being only able to walk 30 seconds. So as silly as it sounds I walked at home in place and every few days I would add a little bit more. Eventually I was up to 30 min and spring was coming. I wanted to walk the dogs again. I started with one and would take it slow and do a short walk. As I said my muscles are sore from my health issues after doing anything that I get tremors and will have my legs and arms just give out. I'm hoping I can keep it up. I know I can through the summer but don't know what I will do once winter comes. Winter is horrible of my body and health issues so I might have to do walking inside again and it might be less. But I'm gonna keep pushing my self and trying to maintain what I have gotten back mobility wise. I know I won't ever be where I was  but I also never wanna end up back to where I was basically bed ridden. You take the simple things for granted. You don't know how lucky we are tell it's taken away. It's been a long road and I still have a long way to go. The key is not giving up on your self. Knowing your boundaries and leaning to adapt to your new situation.

The Caucasian chalk circle

I was lucky enough to get envited to see the play the Caucasian chalk circle. I had never heard of it before but am always willing to see and experience new things. Our friends son was in it. He was playing 2 roles one being a elderly women. Arriving it was sad to see that there were only maybe 20 people there to see the show. When I have been to see the schools musicals it's usually packed. Although it was opening night so I assume the other shows had more people. But also it might be people not knowing the show and it not being a musical people seem to like musicals more then plays now days.  It was interesting that there was an iron curtain (chain link fence) where the cast would change and get ready for the next scene. So you could watch them. There were 3 people who stood out for me and drew your attention that even the people getting ready for the next scene. One was our friend as well as the main guy and girl. They were both great. The main guy who was the judge was amazing. They all had amazing timing for the funny lines. The story of the play is a rich couple who when war breaks out accidentally leave their baby behind. A young poor women finds the son and takes him as her own and protects him. Soldiers search for her and the baby. The coustums were some what cyber goth style which was different and interesting. Definitely take a step out of your boundaries and go see plays and musicals that you didn't know about. You may find a new favourite.

Town wide yard sale and spring cleaning

i have always loved yard sales. You never know what hidden gems you will find. Our town has a town wide yard sale every year and I enjoy walking around and finding things and visiting with people from town. There are usually lots of yard sales as well as you can sell in the community club by buying a table. So this year after some massive spring cleaning. We ended up going through every thing in the house. Every paper every item and if we didn't love it or need it. It was gone. We started by posting some things on the local Facebook buy and sell. Which surprisingly with selling things for mostly $1 we sold $700 worth of stuff. But we still had quite a bit left. With not wanting to bring the stuff back in the house we decided to. Try our hand at a yard sale. Sadly there where not many on our street but our house this year so we didn't have as much traffic as we could. It was also raining the first part of the day. But in the end we still sold another $230 worth. We donated 10% to paws in motion which we are raising funds for coming up. Still having items left I didn't want them to come back in the house and clutter things up. So I packed up 2 garage bags for good will, 2 garbage bags and a box for a dog rescue that's gonna have a garage sale, we donated all the fencing etc from behind the shed to the local dog rescue in town and the rest of the hooks (200+) to the local school to sell for fundraising. We still have 2 boxes of DVDs etc that we can sell or donate that are in the garage. 

Boy it feels good to clean the house so good. We don't need all this excess stuff laying around to be happy. It was nice to make a little bit of money instead of just tossing or donating everything. I would much rather people be using things then me just keeping them for the sake of owning things. Did you do a big spring cleaning? 

Book review of Mercy by Rhiannon Paille

this is the 4 th book in the series of the Ferryman and the Flame. I had not read the previous 3 before starting this book. I took a little bit to get use to the lingo and world. I think if I would have started from the beginning of the series it would have come easier. Saying that I did buy the rest of the series before I even finished the book and plan on reading it start to finish since I enjoyed this book so much. I think I will get even more out of it the second time around. Even though I didn't read the others before hand it gave enough of a back ground  at the beginning that I was able to grasp the basics of what happened in the previous books.
Sadly while I was reading this book my device was acting up and I had to take a few months break from it. But I was glad to get right back at it. I can't wait to go back and read the series from the start. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to receive an e copy of this book from the author. I had not heard of her or read any of her books before hand. It gave me the opportunity to try out and find a new author and series. I look forward to reading more from her in the future. I especially love to read and find local authors. I love supporting local in anyway when I can.

May is celiac awareness month

may is a very important month to me. Not only is it my muffins birthday but it's also celiac awareness month. Being diagnosed with celiac changed my life. Not only because I have to eat gluten free but because I was sick my whole life. I done remember not being sick or food not making me horribly ill. What a lot of people don't know is that some people don't have any symptoms with celiac and other people like me who don't have just the stomach issues but have a lot of the other issues with skin, memory and many many more. The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten free diet and not as simple as just not eating bread gluten is hidden in many places from dental floss, make up, sauces and salad dressings to name a few. You have to be careful and read labels of everything. Not even just that you need to worry about cross contamination and one crumb can make someone like me sick for days. Not only that it also causes damage to the body. Untreated celiac disease is actually very serious and getting contaminated or not eating gluten free can lead to a lot more health issues. Please try and be understanding. Its hard enough with out people making fun of us of acting like we are being to dramatic about it. If we say we can't eat it cause it was on a plate with gluten items. We know our body and disease better then anyone else. Don't tell us it will be fine and pressure us to still eat it and make us feel bad. It's hard enough to eat out with the worry of what if we get glutened being embarrassed, having to defend our self or made fun of all adds a lot more stress and anxiety. Please take time to listen and understand. And if you want to be supportive doing research and reading up on a condition a friend or loved one has is one of the best things you can do.

Re reading Harry potter

I decided last month that I wanted to re read Harry Potter so that I could finally get around to reading the last 2 books which I never had a chance to read. Those books have been looking at me for to long. I'm so happy I decided to re read them. I am enjoying them so much and feel like I am at hogwarts her writing definitely builds the world that is so magical and you feel like you are apart of it. I can't put the books down. As soon as I finish one I pick up the next no thought. Another book isn't a choice I need to finish this series.
Have you read Harry Potter? Did you like it? Have you re read it? What series do you love to re read?
I was afraid that I would end up in a reading slump after finishing the series but I haven't. I'm actually on a good reading stretch which is great after being in a reading slump over the winter.

Spring cleaning #2

spring cleaning is still under way at our house. We are doing a huge clean. If we haven't used it in the past year or 2 it's donated or sold. We have sold quite a bit online so far and anything that remains we will have a garage sale if we have a decent amount or we will donate it. It feels so good to do a huge clean sweep. We don't need physical things to make us happy. Holding onto things for the sake of just having things is silly. Someone else could be getting use out of it instead of it sitting in your closet gathering dust. The house has a lot of freed up space. Keep in mind we haven't even filled all our closets and cabinets lol. But it was just getting to be to much. The house is feeling a lot better and more open. Besides the spare room which is holding all the stuff we are selling and donating. Lol that room is a mess you can't sit on the bed and most of the floor is covered. But it's slowly going down as we are selling things off.

Spring cleaning

Why do we as humans feel we need so much stuff. I am constantly cleaning and sending stuff to goodwill. But even still I am doing a huge spring clean right now and I was able to get 2 huge garbage bags for good will and 2 for garbage and recycling and I'm not even done yet. It's just crazy how much stuff we collect or feel like we need. Growing up in a house that was so full it easily could house 3 houses and did when my parents split up they both had enough for their houses and didn't need to buy much if anything and we still took van loads to the good will. Growing up in a house like that made me not want to save things and live with walls made of Rubbermaid bins of stuff we think we need to save. What good is it doing us? It makes me feel panicked when things are over crowded. We have storage we haven't even started to use in our house and when people see or hear that they are shocked. It bothers me to think of all they money wasted buying things even small things like $2 here $5 it adds up fast. And it seems like so many of us send so much of it to the dump or good will. I am trying to be more concise as a consumer and buying more of what I need and less of what I think I need and just really want. I'm not saying treating your self to something is bad. But every time we are out do we need to buy that magazine or coffee? Do we need that 8th black shirt? I think more of us need to think before we spend.

March reads

Stories from candy land  by Candy Spelling
Stories from Arron Spelling and Tori Spellings mother. It was interesting to get her perspective since I have read most of Tori's books.

Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets by JK Rowling
The second book in the series has Harry and his friends trying to find out who is the heir to slytherin as they are the person who has opened the chamber of secrets putting all students who are part muggle in danger.

Harry Potter and the prisoner of azkaban by JK Rowling
Harry is on lock down at hogwarts because someone is after him who escaped from wizards jail. But why are they after him?

Harry Potter and the goblet of fire by JK Rowling
It's Harry's 4 th year and hogwarts is having the tri wizard tournament. He is also having dreams about he who shall not be named. Is Harry's life in danger yet again?

Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
Harry hasn't heard much from anyone all summer and when he hears they just write they are super busy. With everyone being secretive and Harry worrying about he who shall not be named he is on edge.

I am really enjoying re reading Harry Potter I have been meaning to for ages specially since I  never finished the last 2 books so I am taking this as my chance. This world is written so lovely i feel like I am at hogwarts with them and I just can't put these books down! Are you a Harry Potter fan ? Have you re read the books? What's your favourite series to re read?

Quick update on L'Oreal hydra 5

I have been using this line for about a month. I have notices some of my scars and red spots have started to evened out. I am still only using the scrub and toner because the other 2 made me break out. My skin is so sensitive that something in it like the sun screen just didn't agree with it. I could imagine if you were able to use all four products you would have even better results. I am very pleased with the products that I can use. And am great guy to influencer for the chance to try them.
Although I received these free for review all my opinions are my own honest thoughts on the product. Just because something worked for me or didn't work doesn't mean it won't for someone else. I have very sensitive skin and react very easily to things.

journey into fermented foods and drinks

While I start my seeds and wait for the snow to melt so I can get out in the garden I have been doing a lot of reading on fermented food and the benefits of them. As someone who suffers from multiple digestion issues and diseases probiotics  and digestive enzymes are a must. They help but I still have a lot of issues even with taking them. In finding out fermented foods are good for digestion, healing the gut and are loaded with probiotics  it only seemed natural that I gave them a try. I love sauerkraut So I figured I would start there. I read up on it and realise how easy it was to do I don't know why didn't I try this sooner! So I went to work chopping cabbage and making my sauerkraut. It's now sitting fermenting on my counter. Next batch I wanna add carrots, beets and possibly apple and fennel. The possibilities are end less with fermented veggies specially once it's farmers market season and my garden starts producing. As long as moxxi doesn't eat all my crops and all the blossoms like last year!

Next I am thinking of either making kimchi and or kombucha. They both interest me. I bought what I need to make the scoby to for kombucha. So I might do that this week. Have any of you had experience with fermented food or beverages? If so what? Do you have a recipe you like the best? What other things do you like you do and make around the house?

A week in Hawaii

we were lucky enough to have a chance to go to Hawaii with muffins whole family. There were 12 of us that went his mother, sister, hubby and 2 kids, brother, wife and 3 kids and muffin and my self. This whole trip was a dream vacation all happened because my mother in law wine some money on the extra. I couldn't think of a better person to win money on the lotto. It made it possible for her to make one of her dreams come true. Her dream was to go to Hawaii and being able to take all her kids and grand kids was obviously an added bonus. It was so generous of her and was a true bonding experience with so many memories made.
I was worried about the travel with my health issues. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Although the 13 hours flying was difficult I made sure to rest before, take extra meds and bring my neck pillow. The kids all did great flying. We arrived in Honolulu  around midnight. Grabbed the rental car and headed to the house. Since it was dark we didn't get to see our beautiful view tell the morning. Once we took in our surroundings and the house we made our way to Walmart and Costco to buy some food for the week. I had some amazing food truck tacos out side Costco. We relaxed around the house and took in the yard and pool. Before dinner a few of us went with the older kids to the dole plantation. It rained pretty good while we were there but I still took in the shops and we made the last train of the plantation. Home for dinner and early to bed.
The next day started at 4 am as most of the week did between the time change and chickens waking me up. Kirk and I went early to the sea life park to see as much as we could. The rest of the family caught up with us later. I got yo feed the sea lions there lunch as well as feed some Dolphins. It was a great day with such a beautiful view. We took the scenic ride home and stopped at a set of food trucks where we got some BBQ meat with rice.

The next day I went to Pearl Harbour  with muffin and his brother it was a gold 8 hour day. Really up our ally we all enjoyed it. But after we got there we did the sub and then went to the Arizona. We were on the boat ready to leave to go back to shore when a helicopter crashed into the dock we were suppose to dock at. They are lucky they hit the water which was my 8 feet deep. If they would have hit the land it would have been so much worse and there were 100s of people 15 feet from where they crashed. Sandy the 15 year old boy was trapped underwater for over a min and needed cpr we found out he passed away a week later in the hospital.
The next morning we hung out at the house and checked out a near by town and then muffin and I took off to the Polynesian cultural centre when it opened at noon. We walked and went to all the islands and learnt a lot and saw a lot of different shows and exhibits. I found this so interesting and it really helped with understanding the luau and big show we went to. My 2 sister in laws and mother in law met up with us girls the luau and show. The highlight for me was the 8 year old fire knife danced. The food was good I made a effort to try everything that I could including all the raw fish which is their specialty. It was a very long day  and we were all very tired when we got home.
We woke up early and muffin and I went to the zoo which was right on Waikiki we stopped at a Hawaiian fast food place called zippy then relaxed around the house swam in the pool and early to bed.
Then it was a beach day we lazed around the house in the and then took a walk to the beach. Later my sister in law and muffin walked to the grocery store and stopped at the food trucks to get some food and shave ice. Relaxing day and then back to the beach before dinner.
We woke up and packed and cleaned the house a bit. Muffin his mom and my self walked to the beach. The beach was gone the water had come in so far that the steps leading down to the beach were gone and the waves were coming up on to the road area. They were 30+ feet. We went back and left for the air port. Good thing we did the waves got to 60+ feet and  they closed the highway as they were crashing over the highway. People lost stone fences and damaged their houses and the roads from the waves. They were big enough that 2 days later they had the Eddie. A big surf companion that has only happened 9 times in 31 years and the last time it happened was 9 years ago. It's really to bad we missed it  it would have been neat to have been there and seen it. It happened right on the beach we were minutes away from.
The trip home was broken up which made it better. The kids did really great both ways. The flight was kinda rough on the way back. We were dropping a good 30-50 feet. I have been through a lot of rough flights but this was the worst. It was also bad because of my vertigo. We got to Vancouver and wouldn't you know it they had made us check our carry on the last min and I didn't take my meds out and they lost the bag. They handled it great. And the bag actually beat us home but flying with out my meds was bad and I was having chills and sweats from not having them as well as vertigo and nausea. But not even that could take away from how amazing the trip was. I feel truly blessed to have had this opportunity and to have gotten to build so a,my memories with such a great family who I am lucky to be a part of.

Dealing with set backs

it's hard to realize hey I'm 30 something and I can't do everything my mind wants to or even what people 20+ years older then me are able to. Going out for dinner or to an appointment can put me in bed for days. I have to be really careful cause my immune system is low so I get sick almost every time I am around young kids or someone who is sick. It's easy to beset back and not be able to keep up with my daily routine.  A day like today is gonna be killer. I have a massage, dr appointment and then have to pick up my prescriptions. That there is enough to send me into a flair and need days of rest. But everyone is going out to watch the boys at bowling. I wanna go. It's what I have to do if I wanna have any sort of social life. I need to rest before hand and to rest for days after. I often will be exhausted and sore, dizzy, brain fog, my voice will even often be gone. These are just a few of the symptoms not even close to all of them. It's best explained as feeling like I have been hit by a truck and like being hungover and having the flu at the same time. This is my reality most days. Even just doing to many of my exercises, or doing the laundry or dishes can put me into a flair. It's just how my life is now pacing  is a must. Limiting what I do and especially stress is key. It's hard to find that medium ground where you  can be physically and do things but don't end up in a flair. Something like being on a trip can set me back weeks. I have been trying to get back into my routine but it is like starting from scratch. I was up to walking 49 min every day and I'm down to 15-25 min again. It's all about finding a balance between what you can do and your body can handle. I know my body can't handle as much as most people so I just have to deal with that.

L'Oreal Paris hydra-total 5 ultra- even ritual review

I received my first influenster box a few weeks back. I was so excited to receive the box and was even more thrilled when it was a skin care line to even skin tone. Because of my health issues my skin scares really bad form of flaw. I received the L'Oreal Paris hydra-total 5 ultra- even ritual.
When I started  using it it was fine the first day but then my skin started to react by braking out. I don't normally break out and I ended up with 4+ blemishes. This was very frustrating because my skin scares from everything. I stopped using the spf 20 lotion and even moisturizer and that seemed to stop the issue. I do usually break out from sun screen. The toner and scrub have been great I haven't had an issue with them. I don't find them evening my skin tins noticeably yet but it hasn't made my skin break out or react horribly. I would recommend this product range if you don't have overly sensitive skin. I am sure I would be seeing more results if I could use the whole line. But even still I am happy with the products I can use.
If you don't know influenster is linked to your social media. You take surveys on their site to see if you qualify for free boxes of product. In return if and when you get a box (it's never guaranteed you get a box) you try them and give honest reviews.

Essential oils I'm loving

I started using essential oils regularly last year. I mostly use young living essential oils. I like the fact that they have their own farms so you know where the product is coming from. Also the product is top quality so you can ingest them.

Lavender - I put it on our pillows and defuse it to help us sleep better. Also I use it to help with my skin. And if I feel anxiety coming on you can feel it melt away as you smell it.

Thieves - if I feel a cold or flu coming on or like I'm coming down with something I use this by defusing and putting on my chest and feet. I also just love the smell of it.

Peppermint - I use it mostly when I'm not feeling well and have an upset stomach the smell will help calm it down.

Lemon - I like to add to my water for some added flavour.

Grapefruit - same as lemon it's great in water.

These are just a few of the oils I use regularly. I have also started making my own bath items with my essential oils. With trying to go chemical free so making my own body scrubs and face masks with essential oils it's cost effective and I feel better about using them on my body and in my house. I am so happy I found out about young living and started using their oils. They are better quality then the oils I was previously using. They have helped me so much with my health issues and improved my emotional stability and mental clarity.
Do you use essential oils? Do you find they make a difference in your life?

West side story

In dec I had a chance to see Westwood's production of west side story. It was amazing! And I'm not just saying that. With seeing it this past summer at rainbowstage I can say that these high school kids did a way better job. They knocked it out of the park. With it being such a hard production with so much dancing they were amazing. Every note was hit and every step on point. The students all but in so much work and it truly showed. The had professional head shots in the lobby and the program was just as professional as rainbow stage. I love doing to theatre productions and it's even more special when you know someone who is in or working on the production. 

Do you like theatre? Are you more into plays or musical? I honestly love both so much 

Struggle to stay positive

It can be a struggle to stay positive. It can be even harder for people who grew up with a negative inner monologue which was reinforced by others. I struggle every day to think positive. When I am around others who are negative I tend to fight to not take it on or revert to my old way of thinking. It's  hard to stop something you have done for so long. I am working really hard to fight this. But some days when I'm in a lot of pain or just struggling it can be hard to be positive. I know I have hurt people because of it over the years and this honestly has never been my intention and it hurts me to think someone might think I would intentionally hurt someone. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and misunderstandings and try to do better next time. I am trying to avoid negativity where I can and be around more caring positive people. It can be hard when there is so much negativity going on in the world. Every where you turn there are people hurting people. How do you not feel sad and jaded reading the news and what's going on in the world.  I try to meditate and do daily affirmations. Life has been overwhelming recently with many things going on so I haven't had time to do them as much and I have noticed a difference. It also doesn't help I suffer from SAD and it's the middle of winter. I am thinking of starting a gratitude journal and regular journal again. And well as making sure I get in my meditation and affirmations. I also am going to disconnect and just kinda do my own thing. I need to get my self on track. I can't control how people view me or what they think of me. But I can control how I feel about my self and right now I don't feel very good or like I'm in a good place. It's the first time in a while I have felt like things would be better off with out me. And I don't like feeling that way.