I GOT THE JOB!

-squee- I signed the contract this evening and I am officially going to be joining the Rose Wellness Center team as their Bowen Therapist!!! I am SO pumped about this and I can't wait to start! I will start out with Wednesdays and Saturdays. Wendesdays i'll do a 'split shift' and work the morning with last client booked at 11 so I can go and take Carter home for a nap. Then i'll go back as soon as Michael's home and work until close (so 4:00-8). Basically he will not be able to work late on Wednesdays any more. And the clinic hours are only 9-2 on Saturdays - we don't go anywhere on Saturdays anymore, or if anything we wait until after Carter's nap (generally until 2). For now the timing will be fantastic! I have a receptionist!! Isn't that cool? hehe.

Now i'm sitting here about to start writing my bio and 'what is Bowen', and sorting out my insurance, etc.

http://therosewellnesscentre.com/

the bug...detailed, beware! Skip to paragraph 3 for other news

Well my family did not avoid getting the 'flu' and everything that goes with it (from vomit to cold chills and aches to diarrhea). TMI? oh well! Carter started it, then Logan & I were next, and Michael finished it all up. It was just so awful for me because I truly have not thrown up in literally almost a decade (if not a decade or longer)...it had to have been in Jr high or High school. I've never had morning sickness during my pregnancies, and I am SOOO grateful for that! I hate the feeling that goes with being ill. -_- I felt terrible for Michael too because even though I always got to the toilet or sink, the one time I accidently puked in our poor-draining sink, and he had to help (as I was unable). "For better or for worse" right?

Anyways, It was a bonus that we all were sick together because then we could just all veg together and not have to worry about entertaining anyone as no one wanted to move (except Carter but thankfully he's laid back enough to just play independantly while we rested). We are lucky it only lasted 36hrs - we've heard of plenty of people who haven't had such short term symptoms.

Before getting sick I had reached day 8 of wheat/dairy/most fruits-free. I had lost 3lbs at that point, and then getting sick I lost 3 more lbs. I gained about a lb back thus far from the illness, but I am really happy with my new 'diet'. I miss things, but health wise I feel GREAT. Sure I crave sweets but the idea of solving my itchy problem is well worth the sacrifice, and if it means I can finally lose my final (from this point) 10lbs, then woohoo right? However, to date I am still itchy but definetly not so severe. There's improvement, but not a solution -yet-. I am being pretty careful not to eat anything with wheat and dairy, I only eat bananas, so that's the only 'sugar' i'm getting. Maybe i'll have to switch to a berry next week just to experiment.

I bought the Wild Rose detox/cleanse, but then I got sick and well frankly i feel pretty 'cleaned' lol, so I am going to hold off on doing it for a few months. It's basically 12 days of wheat/dairy/sugar free so it would have been easy to do at this point in time but I don't see the point now.

Anyways, i'm doing well and my family is well, and i'm excited to watch the lbs go down, who knows, maybe i'll reach my goals of 1. starting my next pregnancy at 130-135lbs and 2. fitting back into my Old Navy size 4s!

Vacation

Michael and I LOVE to travel. I'm not sure what it is, but ever since Alaska, we just have the destination vacation bug. We've had the opportunity to do Alaska, San Diego, and then Los Angeles (d-land). We've been trying to figure out what we want to do next (our list is very long). Basically our next 'big' vaca will likely be a cruise in the Caribbean with the kids and one set of parents (mine or Michael's). We were debating the idea of taking it this next April (with our tax return monies), but decided that might be better spent on our backyard. So instead we're working on the plans of doing a smaller vacation to Victoria/Vancouver.

Why there? Well, firstly I have an absolutelyamazing and fabulous Aunt and Uncle (and their kids/my cousins) that live there, whom we have been wanting to visit for ages! And secondly, we have always missed out on Vancouver on our travels out that way.

Anyways, i've been working on an itinerary  (minus the dates as it really is all based on my aunt's schedule!)

I'm thinking we will fly in and spend 2-3 days with the Fabulous Fairwell's. From there we will take the fairy to the mainland (I think the kids would enjoy the boat trip), ditch our bags at a hotel and then start seeing the sites over 2-3 days. The things on my list include:
1. Vancouver Aquarium (1/2 day)
2. Stanley Park (full day)
   a) walk the seawall (8.8km loop along the ocean that loops around)
   b)Variety Kids Waterpark & Beach
3. The Capilano Suspection bridge & tree walk (1/2 day)
4. Whale Watching tour (if it is in season and time permits)
5. Visit the temple grounds of the Vancouver Temple

And there you have it! Our flights are covered via airmiles (minus taxes), so we should be able to have a really wonderful, affordable 5-7 day vacation! I'm BEYOND excited about it!

Our other plans for the summer will be regular weekend camping trips....So in the mean time, now that i've written out 'the plan', I can get my mind back into Halloween and Christmas for the rest of the year :)

Interview

I have an interview in a week and a half. I am applying for a position to join a team of natural health practictioners. I would work on a 60-40 bases in their clinic on specific days (chosen by me of what they have available). They'd do all my advertising and really all I would have to do is come in on days I have scheduled clients. They have evenings and Saturdays available so i'm going in with the intention of saying I can work Saturdays, one evening a week and one morning a week. That way my kids are only ever left with a sitter when I have booked clients on the morning shift.

The nice thing is that I don't have to transfer my present clientell from my home-practice, I just am not to continue advertising from home. They stated they don't micromanage, but work on a trust basis with their practitioners.

Anyways, I'm really excited about the prospect that this could bring - certainly it will bring my Bowen to a new level of professionalism, and prepare me for when/if I choose to run a business from my home on more deep level than I do at this point.

But really, the most important question I need to be asking myself at this point is, What do I WEAR?! :)

Wheat-Free

Well I went to the doctor yesterday because I can barely stand the itching anymore (I've said that before yes?). Anyways, this is my new doctor (been seeing him for about 6 months when needed) and he took one look in the affected area and named it something and said that I have an allergy to something. In the medical world they always start with eliminating wheat and beer first as they are generally the top contendors. Since beer isn't a problem for me, wheat it is. I have taken it one step further and eliminated fruit EXCEPT bananas. That's my personal choice because I've occasionally over the years wondered if apples have affected the severity of the itching or not but never been disciplined enough to eliminate them -long- enough. I love fruit so incredibly much that I chose to keep bananas only so that when I start to add things back in (one at a time) I will have an idea as to what may or may not be the problem. I am on this restricted diet for 3-4 weeks starting this morning. I am hopeful that it will cure my problem! If it doesn't it should at least give me that kick start to eating healthy again (and bonus would be to lose a few lbs!)

Wish me luck :) Today I have wanted everything I can't have because I can't have it LOL oh the joy of our minds.

Nothing to say but want to blog

I actually don't have anything to really say but feel like I just want to write something! :)

So lets see where my babbling takes me. This past week my baby has been sick with fever and ear infection. It's terribly sad watching a baby be sick! As a mother we want to anything and everything we can for our babes and when there's nothing you can do it's devestating! He's finally on the mend but still not 100% so i'm taking him to our family doctor this evening for a check up.

What else...I ordered my Christmas cards! Yup, just need to get my letter printed and then I can have those out probably early November (I'm an overachiever! lol).

I love Shutterfly! I ordered my dad's gifts on it this year (I always make him a calendar and then I ordered a second photo gift for his office) - thankfully I have my dad's name this year! But the other thing I love about Shutterfly is that i'm trying something new with them. I am making photo books from their website. Basically I am an old school photo-printing kind of girl. I take pictures, then I develop them! So in Michael and my 5 years married we have an entire book shelf FULL (and part of a second shelf now) of photo albums. Realistically space wise I can't keep up with the rate we take photos and the albums they fill. I'll have 50 albums by the time my kids graduate highschool or college! So, after a trial run with our California trip (and alot of learning curves with the finished product), I have decided to do a photo book (or two depending) each year. I started in May of this year so this album will be labelled MAy -December 2012. Basically as I take photos I upload them right away into Shutterfly and right into the photobook. Many people often say they never develop because it's to overwhleming, but my friends, just doing it as you take them is not overwhelming at all! It takes an additional 10-15 minutes (depending on the volume of photos) which no one can tell me they don't have!
My only downside that I have found is that I feel like I am on edge when my kdis are flipping through them because if they rip a page there's not alot I can do - tape it up I suppose, but that doesn't look as nice. Photos in an album don't get ripped in the same way. AND, I often go into an album looking for a photo but I can't "take it out" - I will have to exert a little extra effort and a few cents and have it developed if I need a picture for a specific use.
Cost wise it actually works out to be the same (so long as you are smart with your picture placement in the photobook). It generally costs me for the album (that holds 300 photos) and prints: $100. That is the same cost as a photobook, and I can hold WAY more photobooks on a shelf than I can albums.
Another concern I had was that I can't have all my pictures as a 4x6 size, and I didn't want to make thumbnail sized photos of all my memories (to keep the photobook costs down), but have no fear! That's not the case at all. I choose to do all my photo books 12x12, and I do a minimum of 4 pictures per page (4x6 size approx) and then I only do "smaller" photos of those various photos that I like the memory but I don't need a large photo of (ex: when we went to the disneyland parade I put 10 images on one page of all the different characters that were in the parade - I don't need a centerfold of captain hook! lol). So as of right now i'm excited for the prospect of photo albums over the years to come :)
What abotu my kids? No they can't have my albums (until i'm dead) but I can make them their own of the highlights of their lives when they're older :) Oh the opportunities!

Well that's all I have for the day - my blogging desire is satisfied! Have a good day!

PS. We have a new "pet" - a venus fly trap plant. It's kind of neat - I need to research more in order to keep it alive ha ha

My Garden

When we moved into this house we were lucky to purchase a PIE lot, which gives us a huge backyard, and big spaces between our homes. The previous owner built raised beds all along the side of the house along side the -unfinished- sidewalk into the backyard. There is 4 raised beds, all large enough to hold two rows of -something-. My neighbors said this year was the first year they saw anything being grown in it because they moved before they used it.

This was an experimental year. I didn't treat the ground or do anything to it. At first glance the soil appeared rich and it wasn't terrible, but I just decided to plant and see what came of it, so then i'll know what is needed for next year. We have been eating from our garden for about a month (half of the stuff anyways), and today Logan and I harvested the remaining items because it's starting to get colder and colder at nighttime.

I planted peas (2 rows), butternut squash, green beans, carrots (2 rows), red onion, potatoes, and something else but i'm drawing a blank. It'll come to me!

I didn't get any butternut squash and half of my onions grew to be only about an inch in diameter. My peas did really well (not as well as our house in West Terrace), however my peas didn't last long. We got about 3 good picking off of them, and then they got covered in a white film which i've discovered is either a fungus or a soil problem. Soil treatment should solve the problem for next years crop. My carrots did fantastic! I say that because last year in West Terrace I did a whole row, but did not know to thin them out and they barely grew past an inch in length. This year we got lots and lots - but still many tiny ones. Next year again, I have learned alot and will be able to thin appropriately (also the soil was pretty tough so that may  have been a factor also). Lastly my potatoes. I got about 3-5 per hill all a decent size. I did white potatoes and they're delicious.

All in all I LOVE gardening. Yes there are bugs and no I don't love that part of it, but I love thinking 'gee what should we have or supper?' and walking outside my door, picking food, and eating it. It's really quite rewarding!

I'd like to try pre starting some of my seeds next year, however I don't really have anywhere to grow indoors, so sadly at this point in time my garden will be the basics as you saw above.

OH! I remembered what else I grew! LETTUCE. lol. I picked what was suppoed to be a nice crunchy lettuce, and it sort of was, but my lettuce just got way out of control! Growing faster then I could eat it, and to be honest we tossed 3/4 of it because it was a slightly bitter lettuce. Tasted great mixed with romaine, etc, but  next year i'll try and actually find Romaine lettuce to grow.

Needless to say, learned lots, looking forward to learning more! :D Glad my parents taught me how to garden (or at least made me help them garden as a child) because it surely made a world of difference in my attitude towards it and my interest in it! Logan really enjoys helping me plant and dig up, so I'm going to continue encouraging him to assist me and eventually give him aweed pulling chore, etc.

Hooray for gardens!