The zombie apocalypse is coming!!!

I was subjected to a horrifying news story on a real-life zombie. Click Here

It left me thinking ... I knew it would happen sooner or later.

So, here are a few of the things I have learned that you should do to live through a Zombie Apocalypse

1. Be prepared! You should have a kit ready including such things as weapons, extra ammo, rope, maps, radios/walkie-talkies with extra batteries, a general knowledge of making molitofs or aerosol bombs and the supplies for it, food that doesn't go bad!! Water!!
2. Be doubly prepared! Find or make a special place (or a few of them for that matter) where you can store more of this stuff in case yours runs out.
3. Double- Tap... need I say more?
4. Get in shape. You'll need to be able to outrun those nasty creatures
5. NEVER assume you are safe
6. Always know where you will will be sleeping
7. Take a multi-vitamin

I figure there are probably more, but this is just what I came up with.
Let me know if you think of anything else..

Its been a while

So, having not posted something in a while, I'm not quite clear where to start.

Life is a little hectic right now. Our place is currently listed for sale and the constant necessity to have it spotless is insane.
Same routine every morning: Get everyone up to get ready then make them clean up their rooms, I wipe down both bathrooms and the kitchen, turn on the dishwasher with the newly dirtied breakfast dishes in it, take out the garbage and recycling on the way out and sometimes even vacuum.

Each day it is a hope that my Realtor will call me to say that we have a showing and that person will buy our place. I need a place for my dogs to play outside and for my kids to play outside and have a recroom. We all need somewhere to go other than our rooms or the living room.
I can't wait to move.

My G&G's house is sold. They will be moving near the end of July. That crushed me. The only consistent house I have ever had is going to someone else. I think that is super hard on me cause of the amount I have moved in my life.

My goal now is to find that place. I want the house that the family comes to for Christmas and Easter and BBQ's. The place where anyone is welcome when they need a place to stay for the night or a weekend. My grandma has been still doing this for the last few years when that torch should have already passed to the next generation.

My daughter is leaving elementary school for middle school.... I feel old! She is growing up so fast and its freaking me out. She is an amazing kid with a huge heart and I don't want her to grow up yet.

Life seems to be moving at such a breakneck speed in some aspects and so incredible slow in others. I'm kinda feeling like I am being pulled around.... not fun!

Struggling...

I am struggling right now, with a few things...

My grandparents have accepted that they have gotten to the age where they need to sell their house. This is the one place in my life that has been consistant for me. Its sad for the family in general I think. My daughter and I have been going over there trying to help by getting stuff all cleaned up and clear out a bunch of stuff to prepare for listing and selling.

I have been wondering what direction I want to go in life. The same thing always creeps into the back of my head. I really want to start a clothing line. I have been sketching some designs since I was a teenager and just feel its what I should be doing. There is a hiccup.... I can't sew. I have been trying to find somewhere that I could learn how to, but to no avail.

My house... or lack thereof. I am working to get our place fixed up so that we can sell it. I started with tiling of my ensuite. I am quite pleased with the outcome and look forward to doing the main bath, the laundry room and the entry way. That should provide some added value. Hopefully we can work something out to get us into a better place before the busy summer season starts.

Kids, this is something I struggle with all the time. I love my kids dearly but sheesh. I try and try and try and always feel like I fall short in their eyes. I would love to be a stay at home mom, be able to go to all my daughter's volleyball, soccer, basketball etc games and volunteer in my son's class all the time, but its just not a possibility. Maybe this is part of me feeling lost in my direction in life.



Lets not look too far into this though. I love my kids, I have an amazing husband and am lucky enough to have a lot of family, both blood and extended... I just struggle.

All said and done aka- a little update

Well, the last presants were opened, the last large meal was been cooked and the last of the family gatherings were attended for the year 2011.

Another fabulous Christmas season has come and gone. I cooked my first full turkey dinner, and had 3 other great meals in a span of 3 days. I believe that I gained upwards of 12 pounds in December (and I enjoyed every minute of it).

We enjoyed 3 trays of jello shots and a TON of food with the inlaws for New Years.

We are all back to the grind of work and very much out of the holidy season feeling, despite the fact that I have yet to take down all my decorations. The way I figure is if my real tree is still green and pretty, it can stay up. Christmas is so fleeting, I like to enjoy it as long as possible.

After a pretty crazy week of winter it seems like we just have a lot of rain on the horizon. The kids are back into school. Reece is doing amazingly well in Kindergarten reading at a Grade 1 level. Syd is right back into sports and loving it.

Like the title says, just a little update

Winding down for the Holidays

This is my last work day before Christmas and will also be my last blog before then.

I love this time of year. I am happy to take my kids and dogs and help my grandparents prepare the house for the family arriving on the 24th and then spend the rest of the day hard at work preparing my house. It needs a good thorough cleaning before company comes on the 26th.

I love seeing all the family!! Its the best part of the year!!

So here is me, wishing all of you, a very Merry Christmas!

May it bring you all the blessings of love, family, and magic that Chrstimas has to offer.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. ~Charles Dickens

My favorite...

I am wondering what everyone's favorite Christmas foods are? Is it 1 thing that you think of right away, or is it a combination of things?

My favorite depends on who's house I am at.

At my Mom-in-laws house it is these little egg cup things that she makes for breakfast, at my grandma's it is the chicken wings and cabbage rolls, at Aunt Liz's house it is the green bean cassarole, at step-mom-in-law it would be just about everything, and at my Auntie Janette's house it is all the homemade goodies for after dinner.

What's your favorite?

Enjoying Christmas for the important parts...

We had the great pleasure of being able to enjoy a side of our family that we don't often see. Sure, its a mish-mashed group, but we love them.

My hubby's sister was good enough to host everyone at her house and everyone that came pitched in what we could to help out. I was more than happy to do the veggies, stuffing, a few home made goodies and a bunch of drinks.

We were all pretty squished in there, but we listened to Christmas music, chatted, skyped with my in-laws in Ontario, almost spilled all the turkey juice on the floor, spilled orange pop on the carpet, and I got to know 2 of my nieces a lot better. I loved hearing Devry say "auntie Steph, again?" to me over and over after singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Dinner was fabulous, all the appies were amazing and all went well.

This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, spending time with loved ones. It just makes me happy :)

Trying something new

So, after seeing all the yummy flavored vodka's while we were in the states for our anniversary I decided to give it a shot making my own seeing as we don't have all those yummy flavors here.

At home right now I have 2 jars of vodka that is infusing with marshmallow and coffee. I am quite excited to see what they turn out like.

Its a pretty basic process. Simply find a air-tight container (not plastic) and pick the flavor you would like. As I mentioned, I am doing one marshmallow and one coffee. Simply put some of whatever flavor you would like into the jar and fill with the vodka, close and give it a vigorous shake for 30 seconds.

Store in a cool place such as a cupboard or fridge. A few times a day, give it another shake. The amount of time you leave the flavoring in depends on how much flavor you would like. Simply open after 24hrs and take a small amount as a sample.

Once it is at the desired infusion, you have to strain the mixture. You can use a tea strainer with cheese cloth or a coffee filter. This may need to be done a few times depending on how much granules are left in the liquid, but the more you strain, the more flavor you run the risk of losing.

Once strained, store in a clean air-tight container such as a mason jar or flask and make sure to label it.

I plan on trying a caramel, and possibly a vanilla one next.

~Have fun trying it yourself!~

Merry Christmas Everyone!

PS- 8 days till Christmas :)

The mad rush....

Tuesday was the primary Christmas production for Vedder Elementary. My son was a very proud Reindeer and made a point of mentioning that we just HAD to see him perform.

The children were supposed to be at GW Graham at 6:10 to get ready for their part and it was supposed to start at 6:30. I dropped the kids off first so Syd could get Reece where he needed to go and grab us some seats and ran home to grab hubby.

When we got to the school there was a line of 30-40 people waiting to get into the tiny auditorium to see the kids. There were about a quarter of the amount of seats needed to fit everyone who was there to see it.

The teachers had to actually ask people who had seen the 1:00 performance if they would mind stepping out so that people who hadn't seen it yet could watch. They had to ask people who had their other children sitting on chairs to sit them on their laps to make room for others.

Here is where I had a problem. For every 1 kid performing, there seemed to be 10 adults, it was ridiculous. There were some parents that didn't get too see their kid because an Aunt, or brother-in-law, or other relative or friend was sitting down. I didn't think that was right.

Luckily after the 4th time that the audience was asked to vacate unnecessarily used seats, some more people did and hubby and I got a seat. Sydney had to wait outside the auditorium because she had already seen the earlier show.

Right after Reece was done performing, hubby and I left to give up our seats to other parents who did not have any and headed home for dinner.

Luckily, even though we were on the opposite side of the stage from Reece, I had brought my zoom lens and got some good photos.

I have amazing kids

I think sometimes we as parents forget about how fabulous our kids really can be.

    Take my daughter for instance. She recieved some money from my mom and her hubby for Christmas and has since been spending it trying to remember everyone that we see for christmas and buy them something, no matter how small. The only thing is that she has spent quite a bit of her money on it now and I just put a stop to it. See, she wants a few really expensive things for Christmas and I had to remind her that she needs to save her money for those things. Her response was "I just don't want to hurt anyones feelings by not getting them anything." Could she BE any sweeter?

   My son yesterday asked me what a demon was. Considering I went to private school I explained it by telling him the difference between Angels and Demons. He then told me that he has to work very hard to make sure no demons get into his brain. I told him that he has too good of a heart to have demons in his brain. He walked up to me, gave me his adorable grin that he does, placed both his hands on my cheeks and said "mom, your my angel" and walked away. Could he BE any sweeter?

I truly am blessed to have such great kids

Okay, so I forgot

I know I was supposed to be doing a blog daily, but hey, its the Christmas Season and we all get busy. So here is the breakdown on my fabulous Christmassy weekend.

Friday: after dropping the kids off at school, I ran to my office and helped to bag and count all the Blanket, Coat, etc donations that the Realtors gathered for the annual Blanket drive. When that was all done, I ran home, and got ready for my tattoo appointment.
Thats' right, I am now a branded woman. I am officially a badger.

Well, it got finished just in time to go pick up the kids from school. We grabbed a Booster Juice to keep our energy up and did a little running around.

After a little relaxing time at home, I took the kids to my mom-in-laws for the night as it was the evening of my work Christmas Party. I got home and hubby and I got ready and walked to the restaurant. It was a cold night, but a nice walk.

Dinner was fabulous! Go check out this place. Garrison Bistro.

Saturday: In the morning, hubby and I went out for a nice quiet breakfast alone. We met up with the rest of the in-laws afterwards to head to Stewarts Tree Farm to pick our Christmas Tree. We stomped around up there for the better part of 2 hours and came home with a fabulous tree. After a simple lunch of grilled cheese and veggies with dip we proceeded to decorate the house. It now looks like Christmas threw up all over it. I just love Christmas!!!

Seeing as we didn't have a chance to celebrate Reece's birthday with his Grandma Jo we all met at the Chillibowl and had a blast there before going for dinner at Mr.Mikes. Again, yummy food.

We took the kids home and hubby helped them use Reece's new gift, Dr.Dreadful Zombie Lab. See below:

Soon after this was taken, they also drank Zombie barf. Now, I know what you're thinking. "What does this have anything to do with Christmas?" Nothing at all except maybe the hat Syd is wearing.

We move on to Sunday: I got up and ran to the store to get all the stuff for eggs benny for the family and ended up getting a Turkey as well (free with points! Yay!)  Got home, fed the family, had a yummy Golden French Toast coffee from the Keurig and got ready to go out.

We all went to the Colossus in Langley to catch a showing of "White Christmas". Its definitely in my top 5 Christmas movies, so it was a real treat. Sitting next to my son hearing his running commentary made it even better.

It was a pleasure to have the inlaws join us for stew for dinner and a few Christmas specials on TV.

Once we got the kids into bed and hubby and I were just sitting on the couch, we decided to go out and take advantage of the extended hours that some stores are offering and get our Christmas shopping done. We did. It is so cool to be done already. 2 weeks to go and now anything else we get is just bonus.

Unfortunately, a great weekend has to end with work. So here I am, sitting at my desk, writing a super long blog because of my lack of any extra time to do so this weekend.

My special little guy

Today is my son's 6th Birthday.

He is super excited to finally be 6 and asked me to measure him against the wall. I went to get a measuring tape and he corrected me with "Just with your finger mom".

He stood as tall as he could against the wall and grabbed my hand and put it on his head. I told him to step away and he looked at it, smiled and said "I'm 6 years tall".

I love this kid. He is so funny and can make me laugh every day. Its hard for me to believe that 6 years ago, I had been sent away from the hospital to go get some breakfast while they waited for a room to clear so they could induce me. Who would have known all the things we would go through over the next 6 years with him.

He was born with a cleft palate. Not the lip like most people think when they hear that. He basically just didn't have the roof of his mouth. At 9 months he went through surgery to correct that and put the first set of tubes in his ears. Over the following 4 years we would travel back and forth to BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver for different tests and new tubes when the other ones came out.

About 1.5-2 years ago I was done with that treck and had our GP refer us to an ENT (aer, nose & throat doctor) here in Chilliwack.

Within the last week he just got his eigth set of tubes and is doing wonderfully in school. He is picking up on reading and aside from his IMMENSE love of video games, I couldn't be more proud of him.

He really is my special little guy

My day today

Today started as per usual, after the 3rd alarm I finally crawled my butt outta bed, woke both the kids and let the dogs out of the kennel.

 After the normal routine we left to get the kids to school and then off to work I went. We had a course held at work today so we had 50+ people through the office. The day went basically the same as every other day except for the time after work.

Today I got to visit an old friend in Agassiz to get my hair done. She brought up a good point after I said it takes barely 20 min to get to her house.

"It only takes that time and we see each other MAYBE twice a year".

  Isn't it funny how when we are teenagers, friends are the MOST important thing in our lives? As we get older our priorities change. For some it's school, for others it's work and for others its family. Whatever those things, we become busy and seldom see those people that were the most important part of our lives.

  I think it's a pretty easy way to tell if you have actually grown up or not.

A Blog a Day will Keep the Boredom Away

Here is my challenge to myself. From now till Christmas I will post a blog every day. Considering this is my third today, I will start a series tomorrow.

Taking Suggestions

So, I find that sometimes I am at a lack for things to Blog about.

So I am putting this out there. If anyone has a suggestion of something or just wants to hear my blab about anything specific, let  me know.

Post it in the comments.

Christmas is Coming!!

We are just a few days from December and I am EXCITED to say the least.

I love the traditions that we have every year:

Decorating the house on Dec 1st
Christmas shopping
The Santa Claus Parade
Reece's Birthday
Doing Christmas baking
Christmas shopping
Christmas cocktails
Packing up the kids and heading up to Stewarts Tree Farm to choose and cut down our own tree
Decorating the tree
Christmas shopping
Christmas cocktails
Making a gingerbread house
Cleaning the house for guests
Christmas shopping
Wrapping presents
Christmas cocktails
Driving around looking at Christmas lights
Christmas cocktails
Christmas cocktails
Hehehe
Getting together with family for some awesome times :)

This year we are doing a few new things which I am excited about:

• I will be cooking a Christmas dinner for my dad and his wife and my 2 step-bro's, we usually go to their house
• There is a movie night at the kids school on Reece's birthday showing classic Christmas movies
• White Christmas is playing on the big screen, so we will check that out
• Celebrating the marriage of one of my oldest friends to an amazing lady!

    There is so much this time of year to be thankful for. We are so privileged to be able to enjoy our families (most of them at least) and have so many to celebrate with. I know a lot of us have our differences but we seem to be able to work through them better this time of year. I am always most thankful for a warm house to sleep in (even if it is a disturbed sleep often), food to eat, friends to love and family who care. Not everyone has those things.

    I love Christmas Eve with my family. Reading the Christmas story from the Bible and the story of the first Candy Cane. All the amazing food Grandma makes and the family together to enjoy each other.

But my most favorite part of Christmas is watching the kids on Christmas morning when they open their presents. How they smile and their eyes light up, the shrieks of joy and then they disappear, lol.

Hubby and I get a little time to ourselves and then we are all getting ready to head to  Christmas breakfast (this year it will be at Grandma Jo's, my mom-in-law). A great time is had there with Mimosa's and the amazing spread she puts out. We chill there for a while before heading home.

Next comes Christmas dinner at another location (this year at Uncle David and Aunt Liz's house). The kids get to play with their cousins and we get to spend more time with family. I am bringing dessert :)

Boxing day usually includes my dad and his family, and this year I get to cook for them as the boys have never been to our house. I am super excited for this part. I have never cooked Christmas dinner before, so its something else I get to look forward to.

I just really love this time of year!!

Click on the link to hear Bing Crosby "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Kids these days.... and how it's our fault

     So, as many of you may know on a weekly basis we deal with teenagers causing property damage in our complex. Every time it happens the immediate thoughts through my head are: how have kids become this way? Don't the parents know where their kids are? I wonder when the last time that kid got a good swift spanking is? How much is this going to cost us?

     This weekend when it happened I heard yelling along with the sound of breaking wood and I recognized the voice. My husband was out there yelling at these punks. This freaks me out a little because of the retaliation that our balcony will most likely face seeing as how the last time he called someone out for doing something wrong, our balcony was egged.

I told him to be quiet and he angrily raised a very good point.
"The reason why stuff like this keeps happening us because no one holds them accountable for their actions."

 Hmmm...

     So now I am thinking about that. What makes kids this way and why are they never held accountable???

     Then something happened. Have you encountered a passive parent? You know the ones. Either you have seen them in a store somewhere or are one yourself. I witnessed something like this just the other day in Save-On. I was waiting in line at a check-out when the mom and 2 kids in front of me start having an obvious battle for power. The kids wanted some sort of a treat and the mom said no. The eldest daughter then proceeded to turn directly toward her Mother, hand on hip and say, "I said buy it for me now".

   Now, if this would have been me 1 of 2 things would have happened:
1: my daughter would have gotten a verbal, and louder no with the "look".
or 2: I would have snatched her hand right off her hip and told her never to speak like that to me again.

     But... it wasn't me, it was a very passive parent. She responded with "I have one at work I will bring you home tomorrow". Well, that wasn't good enough either. The daughter, and now her younger sister standing the same way, demanded that she go to her work "right now!" to get it for them.

(To put this into perspective, I just explained this situation to my daughter and her eyes widened and she said "I think you would just smack me right there".)

At this point the cashier and I were exchanging glances.

     This situation could be easily avoidable if the parents of these 2 little "angels" made it known that they were the ones in control and acted more as parents instead of friends.

    I do believe that these kinds of actions are quite deep rooted. When I was a kid, I knew there were repercussions for my back talking. Sometimes I decided it was worth it, but knew I would pay. Whether I was grounded to my room, had a spoon broken on my ass, or had to eat soap. I also knew then that I would never do those things to my kids. I felt then that I had been wronged as a person and wasn't loved. My parents, like most, would respond with "You'll understand when you have kids of your own".

Now I do.

     I have kids that sometimes need a 1-2-3 count, or a smack on the bum, or a lesson on attitude and what is acceptable and what is not, or the correct way to speak to an adult. Not to discount my kids though. They have great manners and are smart, wonderful kids... the majority of the time.

     But, for fear of having their kids feel the same way they did as kids, parents nowadays want to be friends with their kids instead of parents. We as parents need to remember that we are here to raise our kids to respect their elders, treat others as you want to be treated, learn from their mistakes and that there are repercussions for their actions.

If we haven't done this, we have failed as parents


PS- apparently, my husband making it known to that punk that he will not stand for any more damage worked. There has been nothing since.

News nowadays...

I found myself saying to someone this past weekend "I don't watch the news, its too depressing". So of course I have been thinking about this.

What is my actual reasoning behind this? Bad things happen and I just don't want to know? I like living in a bubble of ignorance? Is it that the older I have gotten, the more scared I have become?
I know that I have definitely become more paranoid as the years have gone by.... maybe more realistic. As a teen, I thought nothing bad would ever happen to me, now I worry about all the bad stuff that could happen to my kids. I have become hyper-aware of all the stupid things I did when I was younger and am afraid that they will do them to without the fortunate outcomes that I had.

I started doing a little research. The way I figure, you will either read about financial turmoil, violence, starvation, or things as simple as our recent headline "Ryder Lake toads on the move" or stupid celebrity infatuation crap like "Mariah Carey shows off post Baby Bod in swimsuit" and Kat Von D blogs about Jesse James Breakup. Is the latter to make it so our minds can be thoughtless and forget about all the horrible crap that happens all over the world? Is it all a way to make our own lives seem better?

I always have the same thoughts when I see those commercials, you know the ones, "for just $1 a day you too can save a life" that if only I had millions of dollars, I would save them all. Then for some reason I feel a small amount of responsibility for those poor little kids whose parents died and the 5 yr old is left trying to feed himself and his 2yr old brother all the while being sick himself.
Its sick really. Why do I feel responsible for kids that I have never met and never will? Why do I shed a tear when I see that commercial and then try to feed my kids who just don't feel like eating that particular meal, all the while thinking of the money wasted and food thrown away that could do so much to help people so much less fortunate than we are.

Recently a friend and I were talking about her recent change of career path. She was going to work with the Ministry of Children and Families deciding when a child is in danger enough to be pulled from their home. I remember telling her a long time ago that I could never do that job. I could never see the files of what had been done to these kids, the neglect they face and still leave them there because its not "quite bad enough" to take them away. I couldn't leave them there with people who may beat them, or neglect them or starve them. No child deserves that. I was raised with the saying "eye for an eye". I figured (if I had the guts) I would have to inflict that on the bad people, I suppose turning me into one of them. Well, after a few years of schooling, and a lot of thinking she realized that she wouldn't be able to stomach that either.

I have been cursed with an over-caring heart I guess. That must be it.... that's why I can't watch the news.

This unfortunately leaves me with a slightly broken heart and a feeling that all I can do is say the same prayer every night when I go to bed. I'll share it with you. I lay down at night, put my head on my pillow, close my eyes and say

"Please keep safe all the children in the world, let them have enough food, water and shelter to live happily, schooling to do what they want to do and someone to love them like they deserve"

Building memories

I have come to a decision.

I am going to do my absolute best to make sure that my kids have amazing memories of their childhood.

I have some amazing childhood memories; most of them with my grandparents. They did everything they could to make sure that they built memories for us to treasure throughout our lives. I remember trips to Playland, Wonderland, Flintstone Park, Cultus Lake, the Zoo, the Aquarium, and a multitude of other places.

One of the memories I have of going to these places is the coolers of food my grandma would bring. It was so fun for all of us to get in the kitchen the day before the big trip and start the assembly line. Peeling eggs and chopping potatoes for egg salad, making sandwiches, packing fruit and drinks, snacks and anything else my grandma came up with for the day.


Then came the anticipation… all of us unable to sleep because of the excitement.
Morning finally coming and everyone jumping out of bed to eat breakfast and get all packed into the car and off we went.

It’s that excitement that I want my kids to have. It’s those memories and those moments to share later in life. I want them to be able to say “I had a great childhood” and have the memories to back it up

That’s my goal

A little reflection

Life is interesting, frustrating, rewarding, dissappointing, enjoyable and aggravating all at the same time.

Did you ever have someone send you a text or an email that you cant stop looking back at?
Did you ever have someone say something to you that you just cant get out of your head?
Did you ever have a dream that rang a little too close to reality that has totally thrown you off?

Its frustrating...

Those moments are what shape us into who we are and guide us to make the decisions that we do.

Its that picture of an ex that you see somewhere on Facebook or in someone's house that
can either well up anger, hatered, guilt, love or longing.

Its the smirking glimpse you get from that old flame as you are walking into the grocery store that sets your mind racing.

Its the one song that you overhear in the car that passes you on the road that
can stir up the most emotional or primal memory.

What are our lives if not glimpses of the time that has already passed and what is to come? Memories make up most of what we are.

My mantra has always been:

"I do not regret anything in my life. Without the good and the bad,

I would not be who I am today, or in the places I am now."

I love reflecting back on my life and I do it often. I scroll through photos, old letters and notes, listen to old songs that take me back to a specific time or memory. I don't ever want to forget who I was, where I came from, what I have seen along the way, or the lessons that I have learned from the people that I met on that journey.

Life has good and bad. It has amazing and horrific. It has memorable and forgettable.

All I can hope for is that when I get to the end of it, I have done the best I could to be a good person, effect those I was supposed to, raise good children, be a good wife, mother, daughter, grand-daughter, cousin, neice and friend and have lived every day I have to the max.