Moved!!

You can now find me blogging in my new home:   Educating Jackie

Dusting off and Starting Over

I've been thinking a lot about this blog lately, and I really want to start back into my routine of updating here regularly, but I'm struggling with how is the best way to go about doing that.

I think I need a change, and I'm not sure if I can do that in this space. I would love to make a fresh start, and have a blank canvas where I can blog without having to worry about how I used to do things here, where I could create my own niche find my voice again.

So I'm in the process of re-locating. I'm not sure if the blog will be a blogger blog again, or maybe another form of blog altogether? Time will tell, but watch this space, as I will come back here soon, and let you know where you can find me. Because believe me, after all these months of silence, I have LOTS to say :)

Migraines and Me

I received and e-mail message a few days ago from someone who followed my blog back when I had daily chronic migraine headaches. She hadn’t read in a few years, and when she stumbled across my blog again recently she noticed I no longer talked about my Migraines (can we get an Amen???). She asked what I had done to stop my migraines, or at least control them. When I was responding to her e-mail I realized there are probably a few others who might be wondering the same thing, and since most of my archives have been deleted (although I am considering bring them back) I should post here what worked for me and my migraines. So the following is the e-mail response I sent to the afore mentioned commenter:


I wouldn't say I'm cured of my migraine, but defiantly don't get them regularly or frequently anymore!! The first thing I did was switch my medication to a different daily preventative (which I can't even remember the name of anymore). Then I stopped taking birth control, and also started watching my diet. I cut out all caffeine (coke was a big one for me) and chocolate, processed cheese and other things that are clearly bad for you. Then I started going to a massage therapist weekly. This was a therapist that was trained in acupressure, and was very knowledgeable about headaches and how to treat them, so if you are going to try massage, make sure you shop around and get someone who knows what they are doing!
After about 6months my headaches were very rare, so I stopped taking the daily medication to see if I still needed it. Which, thank goodness, I didn't! Then I slowly started to spread out my massages, going once every two weeks, and then monthly, and now I only go when I need it (if my neck is particularly tense, or if I'm getting a few migraines or headaches in a row). It was at this time that I got pregnant, so the birth control was no longer an issue. After I was pregnant I went on a birth control where I only got my period once every 3 months, that way my body could get back into a normal routine and get used to the hormonal changes slowly. After my body was used to that, I switched to an IUD, so I have no artificial hormones and no meds right now!

I am so happy this worked for me, I am now at a point where I get a couple migraines every now and again, and they are usually well handled with my Maxalt or if it's a regular headache, I alternate between Advil and Tylenol so my body doesn't get used to one or the other.

This worked great for me, I really think my body needed to be detoxed, which is why the med change and then diet change helped me, my body had got into a rhythm of pain, and it needed something to break that cycle.

I'm at a point now where I still don't eat processed cheeses, but I can have coke and chocolate in moderation without getting a headache right away. I do still watch what I eat, try to eat organic and healthy and stay away from the crap.

I think for me it was very important to just start listening to my body, and learn my cues so I know what triggers a headache for me, and what I need to do to stop that cycle from happening.

Headaches and migraines are so very unique to each individual, so what worked for me might not work for you, but you can take bits and pieces of what worked for other people and create system that works for you.



*** I’d also like to take a quick second to thank everyone who has commented here lately. I since I’ve started posting here again, I sometimes wonder why I even bother, since I lost all my readers when I shut things down last summer. Getting comments really does motivate me to take better care of this space, and to keep writing, which is so therapeutic for me. So thank you! And to the troll comment left here recently, thank you as well! My first troll!! How proud I was to read that, because everyone knows you haven’t made it in blog land until you are trolled! ;)

On the Farm

My mom and I were lucky enough to be able to take Donovan to a farm just outside of town, and visit with a new baby calf and some real race horses.

Here are some of the best pictures from that day (click on any picture to enlarge)

What do you think??

I was playing around in photoshop this evening, and I need your help! What do you think of the edited version? Too much? or would you take it in a whole different direction? Perfect the way it is? Or do you like the orriginal best??? Let me know what you think!!

Orriginal:

Edit:

The wise man..

built his house upon a rock...

Did you ever sing that song when you were little? I was one my of favorite Sunday School songs, the wise man built his house upon (up on ?) a rock, and the foolish man built his on the sand. Silly man.

Well from what the backhoe opperator told us, we are definatly building on rock! Or at least some VERY hard dirt, which I guess is just as good in building terms.

It's getting so exciting to drive out to the new house and see the progess! We still haven't sold our house, but have had some very positive feedback from people interested, so here's hoping that happens soon!

A couple pictures to tide you over, and yes, there will be more coming this weekend, because there are a bunch on my camera that haven't quite made it to the computer yet!

(and again, still no spell check in blogger, someone, anyone??? other then typing it in word and pasting it over here, is there a spell check shortcut that I'm missing somewhere???)

I cannot tell you how much fun I am having picking out paint colours. Markibly MORE fun then Jamie is incendently.

And I leave you with some picutre I took last weekend of Jamie and Donovan checking out the pond that our property boarders. I LOVE these pictures. My problem now is trying to decide which one I like the best!!

New House - Day 1

Today was the day! We started building our new home! I am so excited!! Jamie and I keep looking at each other like, "really??? is this REALLY happening?" and the answer is always, YES IT IS!

First a few pictures of the "before". This is our land, those of you who have been reading for a while will remember about 3 years ago when we bought this. It's about 10mins outside of town, and about 5acres. And we love it, we think we are so lucky to have water on our land, since as the title of this blog states, we live in a desert!

Dig Day! Eight years ago when our brother and sister-in-law built their dream home, we all gathered on their lot to watch the shovels hit the ground, and we had hot chocolate to celebrate (well to celebrate and because it was early morning on PEI and COLD). Well since today we broke a record for HEAT (my truck read +36'C today, not sure what the offical temp was), Donovan and I stopped at the store to get a slush to celebrate breaking ground on the new house. This was a VERY big deal for Donovan, as this was not only breaking ground on the home he will grow up in, but the first time he was allowed a slush, all to himself!

Here you can see the footings being dug for part of the garage, as well as the basement being dug out.

Yes I know, you are all wondering, "How can I get hair like yours??" well here's what you do. You go out on a windy day, with your hair tied back, and then have a camera man (thanks dad) that doesn't let you know, YOUR HAIR IS STANDING UP LIKE A SPIKE!

Donovan, pondering everything. Looks to me like he's ready to say "hey guys, how about a little more this way???"

Daddy and Donovan checking everything out.

I just like this last picture. I think it's a great one of Donovan and Grandpa. (ok, maybe a touch over exposed, but hey, that's what photoshop is for right???)

Thanks for sticking with us on this journy, I'm sure there will A LOT more picture posts to come!!