2009 December | Mom On The Run

December 31st, 2009

Happy New Year to All and to All a Good Diet!

by Janice

T’was the month after Christmas, and all through the house,
nothing would fit me, not even a blouse;
The cookies I’d nibbled, the eggnog I had to taste,
at the holiday parties had gone to my waist;

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber),
I’d remember the marvelous meals I’d prepared,
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared;

The wine and the rum balls; the bread and the cheese,
and the way I’d never said, "No thank you, please."
As I dressed myself in my husband’s old shirt,
and prepared once again to do battle with dirt,
I said to myself, as only I can,
"You can’t spend a winter disguised as a man!"

So, away with the last of the sour cream dip.
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished,
’til all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won’t have a cookie–not even a lick.
I’ll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won’t have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I’ll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I’m hungry, I’m lonesome, and life is a bore,
But isn’t that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

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December 28th, 2009

This Past Week…

by Janice

This past week has been very stressful and challenging for my husband and I. My husband’s mom has Cancer. She had a hysterectomy in June, began Chemo in August, finished chemo in November and has now begun 6-8 wks of daily radiation. Two weeks ago she lost her balance, fell and spent a week in the hospital so my hubby went up to Ottawa, ON to visit her for 5 days and I got to spend yet another period of solo-parenting. What does this have to do with Christmas stress? Well 1/2 way his 6 hr drive back home my hubby’s engine blew. Gone – according to the Mazda dealership in Belleville he brought it into. A $6 grand expense we just hadn’t planned for with our 3 yr old car.

After hubby’s car ordeal I decided to take my truck in for some routine maintenance that ended up costing us $300 (oil change, engine flush, air filter, cabin air filter etc…). It was a good thing I brought it in because it was discovered that the cabin air filter was missing – not clogged and dirty – missing, as in never ever there. A cabin air filter filters dust, debris and emissions from other cars. They should be replaced every year, but I think this was the first time mine has been checked in the 7 yrs we’ve owned the truck. My routine maintenance has saved my life. Every day because I had no cabin air filter I’ve been sucking in carbon monoxide from the traffic I’ve been sitting in for an hour to and an hour from work each day. I’ve felt light headed, foggy, headachy and have been having an incredibly hard time focussing and functioning at work. Every night I’ve been exhausted – falling into bed most nights when the kids went to bed. I’ve had no energy to do anything – gaining weight, eating poorly, drinking a million coffees everyday and not exercising. I’ve felt amazing over the past week being off from work and not driving in my truck.

Unfortunately being home this week with our dog has brought to our attention that she’s sick. She’s a 10 yr old rottweiler that we rescued when she was 1 yr old – she’s trained for several marathons and 1/2 marathons with me over the years and has kept me company through 2 maternity leaves. Molly has been having bladder control problems that have been controlled by a weekly estrogen pill. WIth everything going on over the past 3 months hubby and I forgot to give her her pills – Molly has been leaking on her doggie bed. No big deal right? Just wash her doggie bed and give the dog her hormone pills. It’s not so simple because her pee spots are tainted red – she has blood in her urine. Yesterday and today I took her out for a run and when she peed on the grass her pee was dark red – almost pure blood. Molly’s kidney’s are failing and because of our car expenses we’re not sure what to do – we can barely afford a regular physical for her, never mind extensive tests, medications, surgery or even euthanasia for her. Hubby is bringing her to the vet tonight at 5 pm.

With worrying about my MIL, the dog, our cars and the normal Christmas stresses of cleaning, baking and wrapping I’ve been an emotional eating mess. I ate ALL the chocolate turtles + 2 other boxes of chocolate – arrgh! Yesterday and today I tried to redeem myself by running. According to my Nike + I ran 3.93km yesterday and 3.75km today (though both days I ran the exact same route).

Tomorrow (or tonight) we hope to pack up the car to head to trek up to Ottawa to see my MIL for Christmas. Though with everything going on it would make more sense to stay home with the sick dog, I just couldn’t live with myself if she took a bad turn and we missed out on seeing her at Christmas. I’m going to bring my running gear and try to eat as healthy as possible – though that’s always hard when being away from home. Here’s to a better week next week!

Popularity: 45% [?]

Posted in Depression, General, Health & Fitness, Running Inspiration | 3 Comments »

Tags: Add new tag, Air filter, Cancer, Carbon monoxide, Cervical cancer, christmas, Mazda, Motor oil, Nike Inc., Ottawa, Stress

December 25th, 2009

Merry Christmas Everyone

by Janice

I really hope that you all are having a very Merry Christmas full of laughter and good cheer! For Christmas I got my site all moved over to a new, and hopefully more reliable host (Bluehost.com) – and my gals are getting suitably spoiled – what did you get?

Popularity: 28% [?]

Posted in General, Wordless Wednesday | 1 Comment »

December 21st, 2009

Their Poor Little Red Hands Will Thank You

by Janice

Please donate

Last week, as I was leaving work I encountered what was obviously a daycare centre taking a group of toddlers out for a walk. I don’t normally pay attention to the people I pass on the street, my mind is usually in over-drive thinking about my work day, what I should cook for dinner, and what fun activities I can do with my children when I pick them up. For whatever reason (fate?) I looked down at the children to flash them a grin because they appeared to be the same age as my daughter Brooke. Unfortunately instead of happy smiling faces, I was greeted with the faces of toddlers bawling their eyes out, snot and tears streaming down their faces, with tiny little red hands … That day we had our first snowfall of the winter season and the temperature was hovering near 0C (32F) – the darling kids’ hands were freezing!!!!! At first I was apalled at the daycare – who would send their children to this place? But then I realized that the care providers were rotating their own mittens around to the children. They were doing all that they could and were trying to get the kids to walk as fast as possible to return to the centre.

I contacted the day care centre first thing the next morning and offered to bring winter clothing for the children and learned that many of the children in their care are dropped off by their parents without proper attire. This is a subsidized daycare and they told me that many of the parents don’t send them with hats & mittens (or extra clothing in case they get wet – ie: underwear and socks) and that they are badly in need of these items to loan the children when they go outside. Here in Ontario, the Day Nurseries Act states that children must go outside for two-hours of fresh air every day. This is great for the kids who have proper attire, but doesn’t fit well with these kids who would be better off in a warm child care centre then out getting frost bite.

Today I gave that daycare centre an early Christmas present, I gave them a bag of mittens, hats and socks that I bought over my lunch last week and I also gave them clothes that my children have outgrown. I’m blogging this to urge you to consider doing the same – there are children in our communities who need more than toys for Christmas – they need the basic necessities too. Please consider these children when doing your Christmas shopping, when you contribute an unwrapped toy (as I know you all do), please drop in a pair of mittens and a hat too – their poor little red hands will thank you.

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Popularity: 26% [?]

Posted in Featured, General, Wordless Wednesday | 1 Comment »

Tags: donate, mittens, needy children, red

December 17th, 2009

PSA: Pools Are Dangerous, But They Don’t Have to Be

by Janice

Pools are dangerous

On Monday night, when I got home from work I read the most heart breaking tweet from my Twitter friend Shellie (@Military_mom) regarding the drowning death of her two year old son Bryson in their back yard pool (her original tweet has now been removed from her account, so I can’t share it with you).

In that instant my heart broke. Shellie had just moved into a new house with an inground pool. I don’t know the exact circumstances surrounding the accident, but that doesn’t matter – the fact is, her two year old son Bryson fell in the pool and drowned. Shellie and I have tweeted for about 18 mos. We don’t know each other well – but we have tweeted and she has offered tweets of support over the past while as I deal with my hubby’s frequent travelling. So I find this accident particularly heart-breaking. Her son Bryson was the same age as my daughter Brooke.

Pools are dangerous and accidents can happen very very quickly. Contrary to popular belief – you don’t “hear” someone drowning. They slip in with a small splash and sink to the bottem. A weak swimmer may attempt to swim and make some splashes, but a non-swimmer will simply sink, panic underwater and swallow water. I’m a trained lifeguard (NLS) – so take my word for this.

Bryson’s death is tragic and a very unfortunate accident. It also serves as a reminder to us that water of any volume is dangerous. A person could slip, fall, hit their head and go unconscious - if there is a volume of water high enough to cover their mouth and nose they can and will probably die – they may not suffocate, but they could drown from what is known as secondary drowning – fluid in the lungs.

We all know we should watch our children around pools, that our children should wear life jackets if they can’t swim, to keep our pool gate and sliding doors locked etc… But are you aware of these tips that aren’t so obvious?

Never, ever leave toys in a pool – these are child magnets, typically a child falls into a pool while reaching for a toy. This includes any pool – wading pools, above ground pools and inground pools. Clean up all of the toys when exiting the pool so these won’t tempt a child.
Teach your child to lay belly down on the pool deck to reach for toys in a pool. I have an inground pool in my backyard and have taught both of my daughters how to reach for toys. Model this behaviour – when you reach for things in the pool, lay down. The chances of falling in are greatly reduced when your center of gravity is low and children will do as you do, not as you say. (This also applies to those of you who don’t own pools as children visiting a house with a pool often don’t know basic pool safety).
Keep a working phone on your pool deck. You never ever know when you’ll need to make an emergency call. (I’ve actually dropped one of our phones into the pool while following this advice – hubby was mad that we lost one of our handsets, but at least I was trying to be safe).
Don’t answer your phone if it rings while you’re on the pool deck with your kids. Accidents can happen in that second when you turn your back to answer the phone – turn the ringer off if it’s too much of a temptation for you.
If you ever have to rescue someone that has fallen into a pool keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be pretty – jump in and grab them by anything you can grab – their bathing suit, hair etc. The goal is just to get that person out of the pool ASAP.
Educate your guests. Before allowing your friends and their kids to go into your pool go over some safety rules ie:* Tell your guests to watch their own kids.
* Tell them where the phone is
* Teach them and their children how to reach for objects in the pool
* No running on the deck (this is because you can trip and fall in)
* If you can’t swim wear a life jacket
* Model pool safety

My final bit of advice is so important that it deserves to be bolded and in a paragraph of it’s own:

Please do not put a pool in your yard, or buy a house with a pool without taking a lifeguarding course. Swallow your pride and join the 18 yr olds at your local community center and learn some pool safety, learn how to rescue submerged victims, perform A/R, CPR and some basic first aid. Why live with a ticking time bomb in your backyard without learning how to detonate it? The cost is minimal compared to the cost of a human life. You will learn a ton about pool safety that will eliminate the need to ever do a rescue.

I know it’s winter and pool safety is not the first thing on our minds right now – but because of this tragedy I wanted to write and share this post before I forget. I also will be republishing this ever summer as a PSA. Have a safe and happy winter folks and please keep my friend @Military_mom in your thoughts and prayers.

PS – Money is being raised to help Shellie and her family pay for Bryson’s funeral. Please help. Thanks!