Saturday April 30th-Traci is in Nicaragua as I write this!

All 4 of us got up early and drove to the airport this morning.  We stopped for breakfast at Tim's, which was nice.  I am so glad, too, that I thought to pray for her trip while we were all in the car.  I prayed she will be safe, that it will be the trip of a lifetime, that she will really immerse herself as much as possible into the local culture, that God will show her (and she will see) amazing things in such a different part of the world.  I have been praying for this trip for a long time but it was nice to pray together.

I slept a lot today.  I am not feeling well.  I am sure Wednesday and Friday are contributing muchly to how I am feeling. Doing too much and too much stress!

What I have eaten today:
Breakfast
1 sausage breakfast sandwich on a biscuit, and a hash brown.

Lunch
1 smoothie with frozen fruit, yogurt, milk, 1 egg, bananas and strawberries

Dinner
no real dinner...grabbing a few things.

PLUS
3 cups of coffee with flavoured creamer
NO chocolate
My exercise routine. Each set includes:
Leg extensions-10 reps each leg
Bridges-5 reps
Plank or V-sit-15 seconds
1st set-9:00 pm-v-sit
2nd set-10:05-plank

Toodles!

Fri April 29-What a day!!!!!

Oh my, my, my! 

Traci and I were packing her suitcases and organizing things in the late morning.  Somehow the topic of passport came up and she wasn't 100% sure where it was but she knew she had put it somewhere safe where she would remember it.  So she checked the half dozen or so places she thought it would be..nope.  She checked those places again. I checked them....nope.  Then we started going through all her as-yet-unpacked stuff.  Boxes of kitchen utensils, bedding, school books, etc.  No passport.  We went through all the boxes again.  Nothing! We are both getting very worried.  At this point, she is leaving in less than 24 hours.

I called the passport office.  Yes she could get a replacement passport today but we had to get ourselves to the office right away.  We found the forms online and printed them.  Traci filled them out as I got dressed and ready to go.  I think we left the house at 1 pm.  The passport office closes at 4:30 pm!!

First stop was City Hall to get one of the forms signed by someone who could act in a legal capacity,

Then a 10 minute walk to the passport office, which was in the mall downtown.  We were SO grateful for the office being in that mall, as you will see.

First trip to the passport office, and Traci was told she needed new passport photos.  Gerry had mentioned that during one of the times we were talking to him about this. But they did not mention it when I called the office from home.  So downstairs we go to the nearest photo place in the mall to get a passport photo taken. The lady took the photo and showed Traci what it looked like.  Traci did not care.  :)  She just wanted the pictures ASAP. While we were waiting for the photos, we walked across the hall to get some fries at McDonald's.  We were both hungry!  Ate the fries, got the passport photos, and headed back to the office.

Second trip to the passport office seemed to go well.  The receptionist was awesome!  She recognized Traci and said "You are going to hater me"  Traci asked why. "Because your guarantor needs to sign your photos"  Whew!!  That was OK because I was acting as the guarantor!  Got our number, waited in line, Traci went up to the clerk.  Uh oh!  She needed to have a copy of her itinerary, some proof that she was actually travelling the next day. But she DID start the process, thank God!  And Traci paid through the nose for her new passport. So Traci gathered everything up and off we went to the library, which was ALSO in the mall, to print a copy of a couple of pages of her trip information document that included her itinerary with dates.

Third trip to the office, Traci just handed the pages to the receptionist.  They all knew who Traci was now and were doing all they could do get her the passport! I did not go to the office with her that time.  I went to Tim Horton's where we were going to eat some real food and probably wait until 4:30, or so we thought, for the passport to be ready.  We ordered our food and we were just about to eat when Traci got a text message from the office!

Fourth trip!  I stayed at Tim's with our food, not eating, as I did not want to eat without Traci.  15 or 20 minutes passed with no word from or no re-appearance of Traci.  I texted her saying I was on my way to her.  I packed up our food and everything and left.  I stopped for a sec outside.  Good thing!  I had forgotten my purse and the man sitting beside me rushed lout with it!  Whew!!

I got to the office and Traci said that they had needed her to sign another form having to do with her itinerary.  And then they told her to wait for the passport.  So she did and I did.  I think it was 4:20 when they handed it to her!  We thanked everyone profusely!

On the bus home, I was just out of it.  I was so tired from the stress and anxiety and all the walking we did.  I went right to bed when we got home.  Traci made the pizza.

Oh my!!!

Legal signature at City Hall-$20
Passport photos-$15
New passport-$87
Rush charge-$70
Food and fries-$15

New passport so Traci could go on the trip of a lifetime to Nicaragua-PRICELESS!


What I have eaten today:
Breakfast
1 smoothie with frozen fruit, yogurt, milk, 1 egg, bananas and strawberries

Lunch
1 Tim Horton's Turkey Bacon Club sandwich on whole wheat
1 Boston Cream donut

Dinner
2 pcs homemade pepperoni pizza

PLUS
3 cups of coffee with flavoured creamer
NO chocolate
My exercise routine. Each set includes:
Leg extensions-10 reps each leg
Bridges-5 reps
Plank or V-sit-15 seconds
1st set-
2nd set-
3rd set-
Toodles!

I did WAY too much yesterday.......

...and paid for it today.  I helped Traci move upstairs and made MANY trips up and down our stairs yesterday.  I also went to the dentist and walked 1.3 kms (part of the way home).  And then I bussed it both ways to and from midweek service last night.

I was up early this am because my cleaning lady was coming at 8 am.  I LOVE how the house looks after Debbie is here!  

I started dozing on the couch around 10:30 am.  Gerry called around 11 am saying the power was out at his workplace so he might be leaving.  He called at noon saying they were letting them go and would be home for dinner.  :(  Good that he would be home for dinner, bad that he was not coming home until then.  Maybe he and Traci could have hung out for a bit before she leaves for 2 weeks.  (sigh) When Gerry called at noon, he thought I had had a seizure!  I guess I sounded pretty bad.  I am quite sure I have not had a seizure, though.  I do not feel THAT bad.

I slept until 4:30 pm!!  Traci woke me to say she was leaving at almost 3 pm and Trina woke me up when she got home at 4 pm.  I finally got up at 4:45 pm because I would need to think about dinner!

We had horrendous windstorms today.  And it was garbage day!  :(  Blue boxes and garbage cans were blowing down the street, not to mention their contents!   We lost both of our blue boxes.  Oh well.  Other people had it MUCH worse, 100 high school students were pulled from Hamilton harbour when the sudden windstorm tipped some of their rowing boats!  All were OK.  My mom and her husband lost power at 9 am and still don't have it back as of now (9pm)  (They had their power restored at 10:13 pm) A man in St. Catharines lost his life as the wind blew his garage door off of its hinges and it hit him in the head and killed him.  Trees and branches are down everywhere.

What I have eaten today:
Breakfast
1 smoothie with frozen fruit, yogurt, milk, 1 egg, bananas and strawberries

Lunch
slept through lunch

Dinner
fried egg sandwich

PLUS
3 cups of coffee with flavoured creamer
some chocolate

My exercise routine. Each set includes:
Leg extensions-10 reps each leg
Bridges-5 reps
Plank or V-sit-15 seconds
1st set-9:52 pm-v-sit
2nd set-11:02 pm-plank

Toodles!

Well, Traci is pretty much moved upstairs.

I did not do any sets of exercises today.  What I DID do was help Traci move her things to the upstairs room that is now her room/a guest room.   I must have gone up and down the 12 steps from the main level of the house to the basement at least 10-15 times, if not more!  Great exercise!

A friend of mine said today that: "Tracy (sic) needs to understand that she is just visiting between school terms . That house is yours and she should not be coming back causing such turmoil. She needs to be showing some respect to you, Jerry (sic) and Trina. It sounds like she has become very self focused. You do not owe her anything , especially your home. Just my opinion based on past advice with regard to my children."

But it is a done deal now.  I think it will be OK in the end but maybe I did just do what she wanted at mine and Trina's expense.  It really did/does not affect Gerry at all.  I don't think he cares!  But I REALLY do love the idea of having a guest room!!  And that room WILL be a guest room if someone is visiting, whether Traci is here or not.   I have a friend who comes once or twice a year and stays for 3-7 days each time.

I also walked 1.3 kms today...partway home from the dentist office.  I also did that same walk last Thursday on my way home from the dentist office.

My mom mentioned to me yesterday that she thought I had lost some weight.  :)  I hadn't really noticed and losing weight is a tertiary goal in my eating and exercising better.  My main goals are just to be putting healthier food into my body and maybe regaining some mobility and energy.  Besides it is a command of God.  And I have been failing at it miserably for a long long time.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (New International Version, ©2011)
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.


What I have eaten today:

Breakfast
1 smoothie with frozen fruit, yogurt, milk, 1 egg, bananas and strawberries

Lunch
1 banana

Dinner
1 ham and cheese sandwich

PLUS
2 cups of coffee with flavoured creamer
some chocolate

Toodles!