Update - Its been a while

Hey fellow cyber people.
Its been a while since I've updated, but things have been so crazy and up in the air that I haven't really had much time to update, or much to really say... aside from the prayer request I had posted earlier.

This weekend is coming up fast, and I'm sooooo excited. I work tomorrow until an unknown time. Mike has to attend parent-teacher interviews tomorrow for Brent at 1:30, and then has a dermatologist appointment in Kentville for Sydney at 3. I don't know if he'll take Brent or not. I kinda hope he does so that it gives a little extra time to do what I need to do. Anywho, when I'm 'off', I have to go into Kentville to Access NS to pay something, and then get a replacement license since I can't seem to find mine. Once that's complete, I'm stopping somewheres to grab a bite to eat and then heading into Windsor. I'm due there at 6:30 for the Winkie Awards to start at 7. The night should be amazing. Lots of entertainment, as well as awards given out. I doubt I'll be getting one, which is fine, but its going to be a great time anyways. I'll be on stage for 3 songs. Two from King Island Christmas (The Oomiak song where the ladies sing the chorus, and then On The Mountain Top in which I have a solo), and then Joe, Travis and I are singing 'Seasons of Love' from the Rent soundtrack. I'm nervous about singing it because I haven't quite got it right yet. I know the song like the back of my hand, but when its just you and two guys, along with a piano, its a different feeling than singing along with the CD while you drive down the highway. And since there'll be a HUGE audience there listening, I'll be MORE nervous. I'll SEE if I can snag Kim (the pianist) and go through the harmony parts a few times before-hand. I hope I can. If not, oh well. It wont sound bad. I'LL just know that I sang it wrong. I invited Becky to come to the Winkies to have a good time, as well as Chris. I'm rather excited, but because of the late invite to Chris, I have to give him my ticket. Not a big deal... Just means that I don't get the turkey dinner. Hence why I'm grabbing a bite on the way.

When the Winkies are over, Chris and I are driving Becky into Kentville so she can house/dog sit for her sister. Then swinging into New Minas so I can grab some ski pants from Kate, and then heading BACK to Windsor/Dartmouth... just depends on if he gets dropped off in Windsor, or drove in himself. I'll spend a LITTLE time with Chris, and then head into Cole Harbour to visit my Claire. I'll be spending the night with my Claire-Bear (which will mean giggling and talking all night and not going to bed 'til late) and then getting up early Saturday morning. Well, not as early as I get up for work, but close enough. I'll wake at 7, get some brekkie, say bye to Claire-Bear, then head off to be at Chris's in Dartmouth at 8am. We'll jump in HIS car and head BACK to Windsor. Jump outta the car, get alllllllllll bundled up then head to the mountains - to ski. I'm SO scared lol. I've gone skiing once before, in grade 2, and spent the entire day on the bunny hill. Chris told me he's patient and can teach me. I hope he can. It should be great.

Chris wants to ski from 9am - 7pm or so, and will be purchasing me some din-din while we ski. When we're done, and thawed, we'll head back to Dartmouth, change our clothes, then meet up with his best friend at some local unknown (to me) pub for some karaoke. After that, plans aren't made. I'll go to church somewheres... Either Dartmouth, Windsor, or Kentville, just depending on how the night goes.

Phew... My weekend is PACKED, but I'm soooo stoked. It'll be the time leading up to being 'off' that'll drag on. Brent's home from school tomorrow because of parent-teacher and I might end up taking them to Roo's... I dunno that yet. Actually... I probably will.

General life is alright. Still feeling isolated and only really seeing Tylor, and Matt sometimes. I'm really appreciating the more 'mature' sides of the friendship I have with Tylor. Coincidentally, Tylor has two kids almost the same ages as Brent and Sydney. Tylor and I went for coffee last night so I could talk about what's been going on in this house. He has the experience of having kids the same age - also has the experience of living in a broken home at the same as that Brent is. We talked for a good 2 hours about everything and he gave me some really great advice. Told me that I was doing a good job and praised me for keeping my cool being stuck in amongst everything that's going on. Gave me a good boost after the crappy day I had yesterday.

Yesterday mom and dad were in town for a meeting that dad had with the ministerial board (which went great - YAY DAD!). They met me in Kingston Timmies for coffee (for mom) and tea (for dad and I) and we got to catch up. Come to think about it, then didn't do much talking LOL. I guess I was the one with stuff on my mind. We chatted (I mean, I chatted) for a good half hour, and then they had to take off for the drive home. They were able to give me good parenting advise and keep my spirits up during it all.

Sydney's been to more doctor appointments in the past month than you can shake a fist at. Reminds me of when I was a kid and was going to the doctor all the time for stuff. Sydney has eczema which has placed a rosy red patch on her cheek, but lately, she's been having a lot more problems with her skin. It started off with small pimple like (almost bug bit looking marks) on her body (mostly her belly), but then they started to spread more, and then went to her feet. She's seen her family dr, and it's not chicken pox, or measels, or scabies, or anything like that. Today she went and saw Dr. Charlie Brown about it all. He was concerned and booked an appointment for tomorrow (which, only someone as well respected as Charlie Brown can do) with a dermatologist. She also went Sunday night to Soldier's Memorial Hospital to have her hand checked out...

Um.
I can't really think of much else that's been happening. I think I'll start making a list of things I have to pack for this weekend.

Ciao for now. :)

-T

Sydney, the cutest little girl.

Sydney showing off her reading skills, while sitting in her Dora chair, and watching Wiggles on TV.

Eating cheezies. This is the best pic I have to show the spot on her cheek.

Brent (8), and Sydney (16 months).

Prayer Request

It's been quite a long time since my last post. For the most part, things are still the same. Still doing the nanny thing, and whatnot. Doing some stuff for the theatre company, which is exciting.

I'm making this short because I'm exhausted, but we need prayers here at the house. This past weekend was quite horrible, and the Pattens (and I) need prayers for peace of mind, clarity, guidance, forgiveness, understanding, love, and all that other stuff. More than that, I can't really say anything, but I just pray that things soon come down from being completely up in the air.
Thanks everyone.

Another angel in heaven

RIP KARISSA BOUDREAU.

12 years old is too young to be murdered.

Justice must be served.

I pray that he/she who is responsible will come forward and be given adequate punishment.

Rest in peace.

Uhhh, yeah... I swear the clock is wrong on this... I -swear- its nap time right now, not night-time. lol. *sigh* Ok ok ok. I didn't get to post during nap time, but I had a good excuse!

Today was very much chore day. Woke up bright and early at 6:22am (I know! Yay me!) and have been pretty much going ever since I woke up. Had breakfast with Brent, made Sydney's breakfast, fed Sydney her breakfast, entertained Sydney for a little over an hour. Pam then took Sydney to Roos while I did laundry and vacuumed. They came back, we had lunch. Then Sydney and I went downstairs while I kept doing laundry and watched Wiggles with Sydney. Pam went out at 1:30 so at 1:50, I rocked Sydney to sleep and had an hour to myself. And by that I mean I cleaned the kitchen, did two loads of laundry and went out for a smoke. Brent then came home from school, and a little after, Sydney woke up. Pam then came home, and we calmed down a very sooky Sydney and I went upstairs for homework time. After homework we went downstairs waiting for supper. At 5:30 we had supper, then cleaned up Sydney from her fun with ketchup and chocolate cake (not together of course). Then after that, mom and dad came over (YAY!) to get me to fill out a form for GST, and then they asked me to come with them to New Minas to drop dad's car off at Rockey's. We were there maybe 20 minutes at the most and then drove back.

It was nice for mom and dad to meet the Pattens. They got to meet the entire family - even the fish! It was also nice to see a familiar face pull into the driveway.

I'm sooooooo exhausted. Been up for 15 hours now and spent the day running around. I got to sit down for about 5 minutes total today without having to do anything. ANNNNND, I even went on the treadmill for 20 minutes while Pam and Sydney were at Roos and my vacuuming was done.

Anyways, I'm going to B-E-D. Tomorrow's supposed to be a storm day. I pray that school isn't cancelled. That's too much for me in the mornings. Lol. Stormy day tomorrow, and then its supposed to be +10 Thursday. Pam goes into Halifax for about 5 days on Thursday so its my first ACTUAL day working. Then I'm off to Kentville to do sound and lighting for a QAAW production.

No rest for the wicked! lol

Be good... Or be good at it ;)
-T

So... Who ordered this snow?!

Alright. Very funny... You can take the snow back now. Lol. I suppose its alright, but seriously! It was sooooo random and not expected. I stepped outside this morning, and was utterly confused by the fact that the snow was sheering off a good few inches from the top of the snow. Once my eyes adjusted, it was beautiful... still kinda un-welcome though. Big snows like this really do throw your plans for the day out of whack. My day was -going- to be very busy... but because of the weather, it ended up just being one thing to do, rather than 3. Mind you, I'm not -really- complaining, but still... Would have been nice to see dad and the QAAW people tonight. I still get to see mom and dad tomorrow, and then the QAAW people on Thursday, but still. I hate plans being screwed with. Especially by the weather.

I apologize for this post being late (since I usually post during nap time), but with the weather, Brent was home from school. We were quite busy keeping both kids entertained. Sydney had a semi hard day. I don't really know why she was in such a grouchy mood, but nap time was NOT fun for either Pam or I. I got scratched in the eye, and a bottle thrown at my face trying to put her down for a nap. At that point, Pam took over and I helped Brent with his homework... a little less full-contact. Lol.

In the afternoon I took the trek to Wolfville for a doctors appointment. Wait... let me rephrase that. A doctor's 2 minutes so he could poke my hip with a long needle... I'm still in pain. Oh well. No, nothing serious or anything. No need to worry.

I dunno what else really to talk about. Today was very boring. However, it was kinda fun to watch the army (teehee) of men with snowblowers attack every driveway on the road here. Took them about 2 hours, but it was only like... 5 minutes per driveway. That's a community at work for ya.

Alrightly. Well, my curfew is almost here (yes, I've made myself a curfew). Off the computer at 10. That means I've got 10 minutes left to finish up some stuff. I'll update tomorrow during nap time.

Until then, have fun playing in the snow :)
-T

Karissa Boudreau

This girl has been on my mind for 2 weeks now non-stop. This little 12 year old girl went missing January 27th from the Sobeys parking lot in Bridgewater. Her mother went into the store for 15 minutes, and when she came back, Karissa was gone.

This story breaks my heart, and my imagination tends to run away with me really bad with this. Not a day goes by without me checking online newspapers, and the facebook group to see if anything's been found.

I have my ideas of what's happened. Many people seem to too. Some think someone took her. Some think that she left (angry at her mom because they had just had a fight) and someone took her. Some think she tried to cross the LaHave river to get to her house, which was just on the other side of the river.

Yesterday, I think everyone's hearts stopped beating for a while when we heard the news that a body of a young, Caucasian girl had been found on the bank of the LaHave river by a passer-by-er. The police have yet to say if the body is that of Karissa's or not, and we wont really know until Wednesday. The body was too far up the bank to have been washed up, and I've been told other things (that haven't been confirmed) that also make me, and others, believe/know that she hadn't been just washed up on shore - that she had been dumped there.

I pray that it's not Karissa Boudreau's body that's been discovered, but in a sense, it at least offers some closure to the family. I know everyone who knows about the case hopes that Karissa shows up safe and sound really soon, but something deep inside me tells me that wont happen.

I'm not saying that I know anything, because I dont. I'm just saying what my guy seems to be telling me.

My weekend went by pretty good. Nothing really interesting happened. It was mainly spent here at the Patten house.

Well, its getting late (yes, 9:45 is now 'late' for me) so I'm going to do a little reading, and then go to bed.

I'll update tomorrow afternoon. :)

Peace!
-T

Early nap time

Well, at least it's an early nap for Sydney, I wish it were for me. I'm some glad its Friday. This week went by really fast, but it seems that my sleep has gotten the worst of it. I haven't had really late nights, but my body just doesn't like 6:30am, no matter what time I go to bed.

Sydney and I went for a walk today to pass some time. We left the house at 11:00 and got back at 11:35. Did a little loop of the many roads around here. When we were approaching the house, I looked in the stroller, and she was passed out. Kinda sucks, because when we got back, we were to have lunch, then play. Sydney doesn't go down for a nap until 1:30/2:00. She's 2 hours early! Lol. So, luckily she's still asleep and I -am- getting my down time because Brent is still at school. I just secretly wish that she would stay asleep until 4:30. Haha. Doubtful. Don't get me wrong, I love the child, but my eyes just want to cloooossssssee... Ahhh well. Brent has a friend coming over after school today. That should be interesting. Luckily mom's still here so I'm not left alone with two school aged boys to tear up the house. Haha.

Life otherwise is going alright. Pretty boring. I have no real life aside from work. I have just a very few select friends that I visit. I'm mostly here, at the Patten house being with, and a part of, the family.

My smoking has cut wayyyy down, which is exciting. I've gone from smoking a pack a day, to a pack lasting me about 4 days or so. I'm quite proud of me.

Um.... I'm doing 3 things this month with QAAW, which is kinda exciting. I'm doing a tech rehearsal on the 11th for The Replacement, then on the 14th is the show, then on the 29th is the Winkies which I'm singing in twice: a song from KIC 'On The Mountain Top' with a few other girls, and then 'Seasons of Love' from the Rent soundtrack with Joe Gnemmi.

So yeah... other than that, nothing's really going on. Planes keep flying overhead, which is the norm living here.

Sydney just woke up, so my down time is over. I'll probably post again on Monday... if anyone really is reading these.

February already?

Wow.
Time flies by soooo incredibly fast lately. It's now February and 3 weeks into my new job. I'm loving it. Brent, the 8 year old boy, is currently at school (well, on the bus home right now, actually), and Sydney, the 16 month old girl, is napping. Things are going very well here. Still finding it a little hard to find the balance between what my job is, and stepping on mom's toes, but things are starting to get better. She goes back to work on the 15th, so my actual -real- job will start. My day goes as follows:
6:30 - My alarms start going off. Yes, plural. 3 alarms on my phone, 1 radio alarm, and 1 alarm on my computer. Takes about 15 mins for me to wake up and be conscious. I go outside for a smoke, and then head upstairs to eat breakfast with Brent, then go downstairs to watch cartoons with Brent.
7:47 - Yes, that precise, Brent and I head out the door to walk him to the bus stop. His bus comes at 7:55. Once mom goes back to work, I probably wont be doing this since Sydney still needs someone home, unless she gets up early and I bring her with me.
8:00 - Get back from the bus stop, head upstairs and have a tea until Sydney and mom wake up. Chill with them while they get their breakfast, then head downstairs to watch Wiggles.
From this time until noon really is varied. Sometimes we just play and watch Wiggles, sometimes we go for a walk, sometimes we go to Roos. Today we went to Roos.
12:00(ish) - Lunch. Dad comes home from lunch and eats with us. We've got a schedule on the fridge as to what the meals should be. That helps a lot.
After lunch we play and watch more Wiggles while she gets tired.
1:30 (or so) - A bottle gets warmed up and Sydney and I get into the rocking chair with her bottle and her blankie and watch CMT until she falls asleep. Normally around 15 minutes. Once she's asleep I take her upstairs into her room and then come back down to the rec room and go online and such. Once mom leaves, this will be changed to my work out time. There's a treadmill in the rec room that I have at my disposal.
3:00 - Brent gets home from school. We head upstairs for a quick snack, and then go downstairs to do homework. Usually not much, but he always has a french book to read, and something for English.
Once Brent's homework is done, he's allowed to watch what he likes, or go into the play room to play on the PS2.
3:30 (ish) - Sydney wakes up. I go upstairs to get her and bring her downstairs to wake up and watch Wiggles.
4:00-4:30 - Dad gets home and greets the kids, and I'm officially off the clock.
The rest of the day is spent with the family. Eat supper with them from 5:30 to 6:30. I go to bed anywheres from 9:00-11:00

Still getting hard to get used to living in someone's home, thrusting myself into their lives, and taking control of the reins with their children. Also hard to get used to Kingston. I've never lived here, and have no friends here. The friends who live closest are both Tylor and Matt in Aylesford which isn't far away, which is nice.
My weekends are free to me to do what I want. Sometimes I go away, sometimes I stay local, all depending.


Well, the school bus just drove by so Brent will be home very soon. I'll end this post now, but please, bring on the comments. I should be updating pretty regularly now.

Hope everyone's doing well.
-T