Coming up on my One Year Anniversary

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. I can’t believe that I’ve been blogging for a whole year

When I started on this new journey I didn’t know exactly where I was going with this blog. It’s taken me in many directions. It’s been a weight loss journey,

My official ‘before’ picture taken in March 2012 just before I started my weight loss journey.

In February, 2013, 33 pounds lighter.

a site for reflecting on my past, an experiment with writing stories and prose, a place to share my new hobby of photography, a gallery for my art work and the work of my students, a cookbook of recipes and a journal to experience and share what makes me happy.

: Grade 3

: Grade 3

: Grade 2

: Grade 5

Blogging has kept me on track with my new fitness and eating journey. I’ve never felt better (not counting this cold I’m battling) and I think I look better. I’ve never been happier with myself than I am now. I feel that life has so much more to offer and for me to experience. I look forward to each new day and can’t wait to see where it takes me.

: Trillium

: Seed Heads

: Sunset at Christian Island

: August: Niagara Falls, ON

I’ve met the nicest people from all over the world. Thank you to all of you who have liked and commented on my posts. You have no idea how much joy I get from hearing from you. You lift me up when I’m not feeling well or when I’m down in the dumps and you honour me with your compliments and awards. I hope some day to be able to meet some of you when I start to travel more after I retire and I hope if you come to Toronto you’ll look me up and we can meet for coffee or share a meal.

Before the end of the month I hope to reach 10 000 views. The month has started off slowly but that is my own fault. I haven’t had much energy or interesting things to blog about because of my cold but starting today I’m going to try to publish every day. There are 23 days left so that means I need about 30 views a day to reach my goal. Last month I averaged 42 views a day so 30 I think is very doable.

I’m delighted with how many people are following me on mamacormier. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that so many people would want to read what I have to say. Just before the New Year I put out a plea to reach 200 followers and a few kind people made that dream come true. Since then I’ve been steadily getting new followers and am currently sitting at 281. Before the end of the month I’d love to reach 300. Any takers?

So where do I go from here? Well, I’m definitely going to continue with my weight loss and fitness journey. One thing that I’ve learned is that this journey is and will be a life long commitment. I want to live a long and healthy life. I don’t want to live my last 10 years as a statistic and be a burden on society. I have too much I want to do and accomplish in life.

: Abstract monoprint 5×7

: Abstract monoprint

: Three of my 6 prints, plus the wood block. I started with the orange but wasn’t happy with the colour so I switched to the blue.

: Frances guarding the tomatoes for Sunday’s sauce.

: August: Celebrating my 60th birthday.

I love the challenges that wordpress and other bloggers put out there so I know that I will continue to participate in some of them, especially the photography ones. I’ll also continue to share the art that my students create and hopefully I’ll find more time to create more of my own art. Who knows, maybe something new will cross my path and I’ll share that with you as well. I can’t seem to focus on any one thing so I tend to do it all. That’s just the way I am. I wouldn’t be happy any other way.

Cheers!

Grade Two Masterpieces

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..children’s art always puts me in a happy mood

Happiness File – Day 10

Today in my grade 2/3 art class we critiqued the art work done by the grade 2s. You may recall seeing some of the finished monochromatic abstract art pieces that I posted a couple of weeks ago. We discussed what worked and where some of the pieces could use some tweaking to make them better. Many of the students took their pieces back and added some more detail and then signed their work. Here are some more of their masterpieces.

Two of my happy moments happened today in my art class. The first was how willingly my students listened to the critiques and then actually took some of the suggestions to heart. The second moment was watching my students tackle the drawing assignment I assigned. Some found it difficult but after showing them some simple techniques they started to create some very beautiful designs. I’m really looking forward to their finished still life paintings.

Tonight I had book club and we discussed the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I love the time spent with good friends. We don’t always agree on how much we enjoy a book but the discussions are always lively and friendly as we defend our positions. I enjoy the circus and I really liked the book so I tended to give it a higher rating than some of my fellow book club members who don’t like the circus and weren’t as enamoured with the book as I was.

If you like fantasy and magic, I recommend this book. Reading a good book can increase your happiness quotient.

Cheers!

Paper is not Dead

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Mama Cormier

..… a great video that made me laugh

Paper is Not Dead

Number one for my Happiness File

Did it make you laugh?

Cheers!

Eating Out, Food Poisoning and March Break

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….. health wise it’s been a difficult weekI

It all started with a sore throat last weekend and then it became a full blown head cold by Monday. A friend of mine was supply teaching at my school and she suggested that I take off a morning so that I could sleep in and get the rest I needed to recover. She offered to come in and teach my library classes. I took her up on her offer Wednesday morning.

Getting that extra rest really did help and I started to feel better. My cold is pretty much done. On Thursday my husband took me out for dinner. We went to a new restaurant where the menu was completely unfamiliar to me. There was a lot of pork and sausages on the menu but there were some healthier options or so I thought. I ended up ordering an arugula salad with mushrooms and a small grilled steak. To drink I had a mineral water with a wedge of lime.

The food was delicious but soon after I finished my meal I started to feel sick again. At first I thought that my cold was coming back but it was worse than that. I started running a fever, I had a headache and I ached all over. Once I got home I knew that I probably had a case of food poisoning. After being home for about an hour and a half I was violently ill. I never throw up. In fact the last time I did vomit happened over 30 years ago when I was pregnant with the twins and suffered from a bout of food poisoning.

I felt immediately better after losing my dinner but I wasn’t 100% so I went to bed. Later in the evening I woke up and I realized that I was dehydrated. I took some water and went back to bed. In the morning I didn’t feel too bad so I decided to go to work.

I probably should have taken the day off but because it was the day before March Break I knew that the board could insist that I get a doctors note to say that I was ill. Without a note they could dock me a day’s pay. When I got to school I had a terrible headache. I found some Tylenol and it did help. I had no appetite. I had a coffee and 3 small cookies. I couldn’t even eat lunch.

By dinner tonight I was looking forward to comfort food and my husband made a mashed cauliflower, chicken marsala and a vegetable succotash. It was perfect. After dinner we did our 3.6k walk. I think I’m on the mend.

Tomorrow we’re planning on getting out the bikes and going for a nice long ride. Do you have a March Break or Spring Break? What kind of things are you planning to do?

Welll I thought I had sent this off yesterday but apparently it’s been sitting here in a draft. I thought I had solved this problem but I guess not.

Update: I didn’t get out for that bike ride but we did go to High Park with the dogs and I got some great shots that I will post later.

Cheers!

A Good Start to the New Year

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…. I finally got around to continuing with the clean-up and reorganization of my bedroom

In the summer I posted pictures of my messy room and then thoroughly cleaned and reorganized one half of it. It was this half that I took ‘after’ pictures of. I had good intentions of getting to the other half before I returned to work in September but there was always something better or more pressing to do. I also spent a great deal of the summer at the cottage so ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as the saying goes.

The ‘after’ picture back in July.

Unfortunately once I was back at work there really were more pressing things to do, like keeping up with this blog and preparing lessons. As Christmas approached, my room became the dumping ground, once again, when we needed to quickly find a place to put things when guests were coming. My room also became a safe place for gifts and it turns into wrapping central.

As a result, my goal to tidy and reorganize my room was put on the back burner and as a result all the good work I had done in the summer was no longer evident. I had to start all over again.

Hard imagine that it actually got worse than this.

It’s not finished but I am feeling better about my accomplishment so far. The Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon are organized and ready to go back into the basement to be stored until the next festive season, 11 months from now. When shuffling through my stacks of paper I found a Christmas gift that I forgotten to wrap and give to my friend, L, and I found my lost ownership papers for my car. Bonus!

I started to reorganize all my crafting and painting supplies that I know I will use. The challenge will be going through bins of supplies that I haven’t used in years and pack them up and get them out of the house. When I finish here I will be returning to my room to tackle more unfinished business. Maybe I can get in a picture or two of my ‘new space’. Don’t hold your breath.

I’ll bring you up to date tomorrow on my progress.

Cheers!

Getting There With a Little Help

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….3 hours before the end of 2012

Story #7 for Daily Post Writing Challenge

Reaching Goals

Why is it that some people achieve their goals and other hard working people don’t? I often discuss this with my students. Many people set goals to become millionaires but very few people achieve this goal. The difference is that millionaires developed a plan early in their careers to reach this status and reworked the plan until they achieved their goal. In other words they worked to achieve this goal where the rest of us only wished for it to come true.

I know this is a pretty simplistic point of view but there is some truth to it. The other thing that successful people do is network. It is often who you know that helps you on the road to success.

This holds true for bloggers as well. I was hoping or should I say wishing that my blog would reach hundreds of people around the world. I’m not sure why but when you put so much effort into something it’s nice to know that someone out there is taking the time to read your posts.

I started to read suggestions on how to make your blog more noticeable and draw more followers. I decided to visit at least 10 new blogs every night and leave a comment or a ‘like’. I routinely went to ‘freshly pressed’ and eagerly read the successful blogs that achieved this award. The styles of writing and the topics were diverse to say the least. Some I thoroughly enjoyed and immediately followed.

Soon I started to notice that some of the bloggers where I had left a comment came over to my site. I went from three or four likes to as many as twenty but how does one get into the hundreds. Well I discovered that happens when you’re ‘freshly pressed’ and when someone reblogs your post onto their site. This happened to me when Sue Llewellyn from A Word in Your Ear reblogged one of my photo challenge entries onto her site. I’ve reached over 100 likes on that post alone.

Sometimes to reach a goal you have to ask for help. Two days ago when I posted my stats for the year I told my readers that I hoped to reach 200 followers before today. I was very close. As luck would have it Rarasaur read my post and decided to help me reach my goal by following me and asking her husband and friends to do the same. As of today I have 202 followers. Thank you!

I also quietly wanted to surpass my most views for one day. I reached an all time high of 76 back in May. I’ve come close but just couldn’t seem to draw anymore attention. For whatever reason that goal also came true today. Just before I push the publish button I’m sitting at 90 views for today. Yahoo!

So to reach your goals you definitely have to do more than wish for them to come true. Hard work, perseverance, and a little help from your friends will make it happen.

Best Wishes for a happy, healthy and productive New Year on 2013.

Cheers!

Carol

“They’ll be small!”

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Mama Cormier

….. famous last words from my obstetrician

Story #6 for Daily Post Writing Challenge

December 30, 1981

When I started this blog I wanted to share memories of my childhood and life in general with my family and friends. Over the last nine months (how ironic) my family has grown to include the blogging community. Today I celebrate the 31st birthday of my twins.

The memories of that day are vividly clear. It’s not because I was going through hours of agonizing labour. In fact with this pregnancy there was no labour unless you count the five separate occasions when I experienced false contractions. Actually the contractions were real but they always stopped just before I was ready to make that trip to the hospital.

Back in late August of that year I was informed over the phone that the results of my ultrasound showed that there was definitely more than one baby in my womb. I must have been in shock because I didn’t ask how many babies they actually saw. The doctor on call did inform me though that I probably would have these babies earlier than my due date of January 7th. On average twins are born 22 days early.

A week later I saw my obstetrician and he assured me that there were only two babies on the ultrasound pictures, although a few weeks later he did question me as to why I was so big. Apparently he was so busy that he completely forgot I was having twins when he made that comment. Once again I wondered how many babies I was actually carrying.

As my due date drew closer I continued to drive the car and I routinely had to readjust the seat so that my swollen belly didn’t hit the steering wheel. I gained a total of 56 pounds but luckily I had lost a lot of weight before I became pregnant and I actually weighed less at the end of this pregnancy than I had with my first.

I loved being pregnant. I experienced very little in the way of morning sickness and all the complications that I was warned about never happened. I looked forward to each new stage. Being pregnant with twins certainly draws a lot of stares from strangers. My first memory occurred early in the pregnancy when a complete stranger asked me my when my baby was due. At the time I was only 3 months into my pregnancy but I was already wearing maternity clothes. I just assumed that because this was my second pregnancy it wasn’t unusual to show earlier. I remember how shocked the woman looked when I told her my due date.

The other thing that my husband and I discovered was that older people who found out that I was having twins all had stories how one or both of their twins or someone else’s twins DIED. My husband was furious but I didn’t let it bother me.

I was secretly hoping that my babies would be born on Christmas Day. That wish didn’t come true. As the days wore on and Christmas came and went I knew that these babies didn’t care about arriving early. So much for averages. I was so large that my 2 year old daughter could hide herself under my belly and I could use it as a shelve to rest my cup of tea on.

As we got closer to the end of the month, my doctor and I decided to prebook the surgery for my C-section. We always knew that it would probably end up this way unless the babies came early and were small enough for me to deliver naturally. The date was set; December 30th, 1981.

The morning of my surgery I started to feel that things were different. I often wonder if the twins would have come on their own that day or on New Years Eve but I was happy to finally have it over with. I didn’t know if I was having two boys or two girls or one of each. For some reason I really didn’t want two boys. I grew up in a family of all girls and I think I was a little leary of raising boys. I also hoped that If I had two girls that they would be identical. I can’t imagine the conflict that could ensue if one sister was prettier than the other.

As I was being prepped for surgery my doctor informed me that these babies would be small. Famous last words. I was awake for the procedure so as soon as each baby was pulled from my womb they were held up over the drape so that I could see them. The first baby was a girl and I felt a sense of relief. She was beautiful and weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces. The second baby was a boy. I remembered that he was long and not as round as his sister but he weighed in at a respectable 7 pounds and 4 ounces. So much for small babies. I had carried almost 14 pounds of baby in the last month of my pregnancy.

So the day is memorable on many counts. I had two healthy babies, one boy and one girl. My son was the first male born on my side of the family in over 50 years and my husband’s father was happy because he finally had a grandson to carry on the family name. It would be another 7 1/2 years before another child would be born into our family but once the first cousin arrived the other 3 followed soon after.

The miracle of birth is just that; a miracle. It doesn’t matter how they’re born, where or when. Each child is special and brings new life and hope to this sometimes bleak world. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and productive New Year in 2013.

The Stranger

Posted on December 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

.…without warning a soft knock resonated at the door

Story #3 for Daily Post Writing Challenge

The Stranger

It was late, Christmas Eve. The evening had been a quiet one, spent with good friends and close family members. Everyone left about 10:00 and my husband stayed up for awhile to help me with the cleaning up. Seeing how tired he was I suggested that he retire to bed and I would finish up in the kitchen.

The next morning would be a busy time with preparations for Christmas dinner and I needed a clean kitchen to work in so I happily stayed up to wash the last few glasses and put things away.

After finishing in the kitchen I walked around the livingroom, extinguishing the candles, picking up the loose bits of wrapping paper and tidying up the opened presents. I had just unplugged the Christmas tree lights when without warning a soft knock resonated from the front door. The dog began to bark furiously. Who would be at my door at 11:30 at night on Christmas Eve?

I froze but quickly caught my breath. I quietly inched my way to a window where I could see who was outside on my front porch. I saw that the person was a woman in a puffy black coat but I couldn’t make out her features. I went to the front door and without opening it I called out to the stranger and asked her what she wanted.

In a desperate voice she told me she was a neighbour and needed a loonie and a quarter. Who needs $1.25 on Christmas Eve? The closest 24 hour store was 7 blocks west and 2 blocks north from here. There wasn’t a waiting car or taxi that I could see. I know most of my neighbours and her Eastern European accent wasn’t familiar to me. I didn’t know what to do. Even the dog had stopped barking. I could hear her mumbling away when I didn’t respond to her plea.

My husband was sound asleep. I knew I had no change in my wallet and I was afraid. I quietly turned from the door, made sure all the other doors in the house were locked, turned off the last of the lights and tiptoed up the stairs to bed. I looked out from the upstairs window but the stranger had left. I don’t know where she went but I think I did see her walking along the street that intersects our road. She was warmly dressed and she seemed to know where she was going.

I felt guilty, nervous and unsettled. How ironic that on Christmas Eve I was like the inn keepers that had no room for Mary and Joseph. I sent her away. Is it fair to compare my situation to that classic bible story? It is after all 2012. I live in a city where home invasions periodically take place. If I had opened the door would she have pushed her way in and robbed us or was someone else with her waiting in the shadows? I’ll never know for sure but I did have a restless sleep that night. Every creak and tiny noise put me on edge.

The next morning when I told my husband what happened he told me I had done the right thing. What would you have done?

Stressed to the Max

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

… I wasn’t worried until I got the phone call

I always feel that no news is good news. It had been two weeks since my surgery; I was feeling good; the doctor who did the surgery hadn’t call me.

Then on Tuesday night when I got home from work there was a message on the phone to call my family doctor. It could only be one of two things; something showed up in the pathology report after the surgery or something showed up after my mammogram.

The next day from my office at school I called the clinic to find out why I had to see the doctor. The problem, however, is that you don’t get to talk to the doctor or even a nurse for that matter when you call the number they give you. All appointments are routed through a main switchboard and you speak to a phone receptionist who is nowhere near the actual clinic.

I know that you shouldn’t “shoot the messenger” but it was so frustrating trying to get any information from the receptionist. I knew she didn’t have access to my files and all she could tell me was that the visit had something to do with reviewing the results of the surgery.

The next problem was setting up an appointment that didn’t require me taking off an entire day or even part of a day to see the doctor. As I’ve probably told you before I’ve lost all my accumulated sick days because of a provincial government bill and I’ve already used up 3 of my 10 days for the year. The other complication is that my so called family doctor has moved further away to an area that is a little sketchy and the clinic he did work from has shut down.

My frustration on the phone was obvious and the receptionist, to her credit, was trying to help me find a solution. Apparently it doesn’t matter which clinic you visit your records can be accessed by any of their doctors. After being close to tears, we finally figured out that there is a clinic much closer to home and that I was able to get an appointment on Friday after work.

When I hung up the phone I turned around to find a small group of my library helpers standing at my door looking a little concerned. They told me I sounded a little stressed. What an understatement. I smiled and assured them that I was fine and gave each of them a job to do.

On Friday I left school early (4:15 instead of 6:00) and drove to my appointment. My friend, L, made me promise to call her as soon as I found out what the problem was. I thought I had left myself plenty of time to make it to my appointment but I ran into some unexpected traffic and I arrived 15 minutes late. It didn’t seem to matter though because the doctor was running late as well.

I had made reservations to meet friends for dinner that night for 7:00 and when I still hadn’t gotten in to see the doctor by 6:00 I started to fret about being late. I tried to call my husband but my phone had died so I hooked it up to the doctor’s outlet while I waited. As soon as I had enough juice to make calls I started calling my husband but he wasn’t picking up anywhere. Another thing to worry about.

When the nurse came into the room to see me she asked me why I was there. I explained the phone message I had received and she looked through her records. She then asked me if the appointment was for the breast screening results. There had been no mention of that before, so now I started to worry that maybe something had shown up on the mammogram. She repeated the same question and when I told her that I didn’t think so she told me that the doctor would be in to see me after one more patient.

I think that the next 15 minutes were the longest 15 minutes of my life. It’s funny how you think the worst and how many bad scenarios take hold of your mind. What will I tell my friends at dinner that night? Will I have to take more time off of work or will I just retire early?

Finally when my ‘new’ doctor arrived he put me at ease immediately. He went through all my charts, the letters from my surgeon and the breast screening results and couldn’t find any reason for me being there. The surgery went well, the mammogram was clear and I appeared to be very healthy. He double checked everything and couldn’t figure out why my last doctor underlined and question marked some of the details of the surgery. He asked me if there was anything else he could do for me while I was there so I had him give me my flu shots.

When I finally left the office I had 10 minutes to get to the restaurant. There was no time to go home first so I called my husband for the 3rd time, still didn’t get through to him so I left another message and told him to meet me at the restaurant. When I got there our friends were already waiting and the restaurant owner offered to called K again. Still no answer. A new worry! Eventually we did connect with my husband and he finally joined us at the restaurant but that’s another story for another time.

At least I was able to enjoy the rest of the evening and I didn’t have to tell people that I had a new health issue. I’m not sure I could have stayed quiet if there had been a problem. Unfortunately I forgot to phone my friend L back and I caused her some stress for a good chunk of her evening. She did eventually reach me at the restaurant and she figured out that everything was okay.

So what did I learn? …..that no news is good news!

I wish I could have been as relaxed as this little guy was while sunning himself outside my kitchen window this morning.

A Dusting and Cleaning

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…. all is well

Today I went to the hospital to have “my procedure” done. People at work knew I was having surgery but many didn’t know why and found it awkward and difficult to ask me if I was okay and why surgery was necessary. In turn I felt uncomfortable sharing that information but I didn’t want people to think that I had a life threatening condition either.

I have no problem talking about the procedure but I don’t want to make people uncomfortable either. That being said, why do we ‘pussy foot’ around what we’re having done, especially if it involves the female reproductive system? Do we whisper about other conditions that we have? No!

Men always ask if “it’s a woman’s thing?” and if the answer is yes they walk away, not wanting to know the details. Not all “women’s things” are equally weighted when it comes to determining one’s health. A hysterectomy is much more serious than a benign cyst on the uterus and cancer of the cervix is a potentially fatal condition compared to a bout of vaginitis, that is uncomfortable and somewhat painful but not life threatening.

I have to admit that we, as women, have allowed this stigma of don’t ask, don’t tell to perpetuate. Somehow, our mothers have ingrained into our consciousness that our ‘private parts’ are not to be mentioned in public company. It’s almost like we should be ashamed of the ovaries that sustain the human population. How bizarre is that?

I’m as guilty as anyone. When people asked I politely told them that I was only having day surgery and there was nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t think twice about saying I’m having a tonsillectomy, appendectomy or having my gall bladder removed. Many people are even insistent on showing off their scars after a surgical procedure. I really don’t get that but to each his own.

I have contemplated long and hard if I should publish this post. I decided that I needed to put my family’s and friends’ concerns at ease. I also didn’t want my blogging family to worry about me. So here goes. Today I had a D&C or as my friend, J, says a ‘dusting and cleaning’. D & C stands for dilation and curettage where the cervix is widened and the lining of the uterus is removed. I also had a lesion removed. It’s been sent away for testing but I haven’t heard the results. Hopefully ‘no news is good news’. My doctor’s not worried.

That’s it. All is well. If I’ve made you uncomfortable, I apologize but we need to question why female reproductive medical conditions make us feel that way. Wishing you all good health.

Cheers!