When I turned 18, a very well-meaning acquaintance planned a surprise party for me. Firstly, I don't like surprises at the best of times. Secondly, my brother and his girlfriend-at-the-time had promised to take me out for fancy supper the same night and my Mom had just made me a new skirt and I was excited. Well we were getting ready to walk out the door and two of my school friends showed up. I tried to explain that I couldn't leave with them because I had supper plans. Alas, that was when the Restaurant Ruse fell apart. I changed my skirt and in their cruelty, my friends blindfolded me for the ride to the park where the party was happening.
The good news about the party was that I got a lot of nice presents and after the barbecue part was over, I went with a few of my closest school friends over to one of their houses to watch videos and hang out. The bad news is that said well-meaning acquaintance jumped on planning the party before my best friend got a chance to and ended up inviting a rather large number of people that I wasn't even really friends with, including some I hardly talked to at all. Also, a couple of friends had traveled from out of town to be there and I hardly got a chance to talk to them. Eventually, they felt so ignored by the party-planner and a few other people who were supposed to be their friends that they left...and I wished I could've gone with them.
Well, this time, my sneaky Mom fabricated a pretty fool-proof plan right under my nose! The weekend after we got here, we went out to my parents' place for five days (long weekend in Canada plus LJ's certification exam). My best friend, Chandra, and I had planned to go out for a coffee date on Saturday morning (to Starbucks! Sans toddler!). I had seen Mom peeling potatoes before I left but just assumed she was planning either to have company or that the five of us were going to eat some mass quantity of potato salad for lunch on Sunday. Apparently, as soon as I left, Mom put LJ to work peeling, slicing, and chopping up stuff for salads for Sunday evening.
On Sunday afternoon, Chandra invited me over basically to do nothing which sounded just fine with me. I got going late because I didn't hear my alarm go off after naptime and most of the time I was over at her place I was in a groggy nap-induced stupor. We DID go out for ice cream though and one very tasty, albeit regrettably large, milkshake.
I didn't end up putting two-and-two together very well until we both left Chandra's place (she was “supposedly” going over to her parents' for supper). Her parents live in the same end of town as mine but we both took a different way to get there. I was baffled when I saw her take a route that really didn't go anywhere near the right street and thought she must've been taking some weird scenic route. Then I got to my parents' street and there were cars everywhere. So on top of being late for supper, I had to park in the driveway. Argh! As I was getting out of the car, Chandra walks up the driveway asking for the jacket she forgot in the car the day before. The following conversation ensued:
B: Uh, I hung your jacket up in your front closet. You watched me hang it there and you even commented....
C: Oh, yeah, uh, duh. I just spazzed for a minute there. Oh hey, let's go in your front door.
B: (baffled because wasn't she supposed to be going somewhere for supper?) Uh, we never use our front door.
C: So? It's been ages since I've gone in that way.
B: Okay......so, why is your parent's car parked in front of my house?
C: What? Is that my parent's car? (squinting) I can't read the license plate. (As if you have it memorized, Chandra Anne.)
B: Hey, wait a minute....
And then it all started to make sense and sure enough, I walked in and heard that dread word: “SURPRISE!”
This time, though....good surprise! A few of my parent's friends were there (people that I know too) and my friend Kristin was out from Airport City (the Manitoba-version). Well all us 'girls' sat at the same table and ate all my Mom's tasty food (even though I was still horridly full from the milkshake) and I haven't laughed that much since Chandra's party in February. When she and Kristin get together, hilarity ensues.
So, it was a few days late but was just the right mix of people and food – thanks for the party, Mom! You redeemed the whole 'surprise party' ordeal for me.
28 May, 2009
19 May, 2009
Finally!
We made it here in one piece! The last few days of the trip were infinitely better than the first few - only because we did more fun stuff and slightly less driving each day. We made it across the border, somewhat surprisingly because we accidentally chose the Port of Entry* with the two crankiest customs officers I've met in recent years. They were brutal! It didn't help that it was right over the supper hour and the Little Goat was NOT happy to be waiting on food and then I had to change her on the ground outside because they didn't have a public bathroom....anyway, we're here now and phew!
We got to our new house and my parents and uncle were already there and Erin K. & Co. arrived just a few minutes after we did. Mom brought food so we ate and then started unloading. Two of my old friends from college who live in the same town also came over to help and the truck was unloaded before dark!
The house itself is huge and we are going to be spoiled! Our couches are set up in the living room along with two big end tables that are old but were already there and go rather well with our couches, and we still have this huge area of carpeted (!) empty space! Yes, that's right. Empty. Space. The bedrooms are big too and the girls' room is just the perfect size for sharing. Even the shade of pink doesn't look too bad with all the white furniture.
Our bathroom and backyard are another matter entirely. I've always wanted a purple bathroom for whatever reason and I lucked out in that the toilet, sink, and bathtub are all - PURPLE! Not even a bad shade of purple (even LJ likes them). The thing is, there's carpet in the bathroom. Like nasty green indoor/outdoor carpet. It's at the top of our list of requests to make of the landlord because carpet in a bathroom? Yikes!
The backyard is merely the product of Renter's Neglect. Most of it hasn't been taken care of in well over a year and because it's so big it now looks like a wilderness preserve. The creek which I was imagining to be so picturesque isn't so much picturesque as deadly-looking (there's at least a 6-8 foot DROP down to the bank), but then we found out it's called Dead Horse Creek so I suppose the name makes the view rather fitting. LJ has decided to design some sort of old-fashioned type sign with a horse skeleton on it just to be funny. There IS a garden though and he can hardly wait to plant it. Our landlady (who is great, by the way!) had somebody come in last week to give an estimate so the yard could at least get a good once-over and then we can take it from there. Otherwise, just looking after that could be a year-long project.
We stayed at our new place from Monday until Thursday and came out here to my parents' place on Thursday afternoon. LJ is writing his certification exam as I'm typing this and lots of people are thinking of him and praying all goes well (this really is the last hurdle that we can think of since he needs the certification to work). I'm confident he'll do great though. He's pretty smart, you know.
Our first week back has been an interesting one when it comes to re-orienting myself to living in Canada. Things really are different here and food prices and car insurance prices and truly crappy cell-phone service plans have been a little shocking. On that note, I've decided not to rename the blog just yet because I still do feel like a bit of a stranger here.
Oh, a couple of fun bits of trivia for you:
1) Erin K. & Co. only live about a 10 minute walk from us (though it's been way too cold and I'm too tired to walk anywhere lately) and we are so excited to actually have friends in the same town.
2) Our next -door neighbours to the north of us are an older couple (who we've been assured will "keep a good eye on us" [read: spy]) who used to be good friends with my late grandparents.
3) We weren't even there for 72 hours and a lady from down the street stopped by to bring us (still warm from the oven!) raisin bran muffins (the LG devoured at least four of them) and a card to welcome us to town and told LJ "see you at the clinic!" He's not sure if she works there or if word just travels that fast. I'm pretty sure it just travels that fast.
4) And finally, when we leave my parents' house tomorrow, we're NOT getting on a plane!
*If you're getting to this post via a Google search for Canada Work Permit, let me just tell you that the government website is really incomplete. We learned a lot of things that nobody ever told us and we sure hadn't read anywhere. Email me if you have questions!
We got to our new house and my parents and uncle were already there and Erin K. & Co. arrived just a few minutes after we did. Mom brought food so we ate and then started unloading. Two of my old friends from college who live in the same town also came over to help and the truck was unloaded before dark!
The house itself is huge and we are going to be spoiled! Our couches are set up in the living room along with two big end tables that are old but were already there and go rather well with our couches, and we still have this huge area of carpeted (!) empty space! Yes, that's right. Empty. Space. The bedrooms are big too and the girls' room is just the perfect size for sharing. Even the shade of pink doesn't look too bad with all the white furniture.
Our bathroom and backyard are another matter entirely. I've always wanted a purple bathroom for whatever reason and I lucked out in that the toilet, sink, and bathtub are all - PURPLE! Not even a bad shade of purple (even LJ likes them). The thing is, there's carpet in the bathroom. Like nasty green indoor/outdoor carpet. It's at the top of our list of requests to make of the landlord because carpet in a bathroom? Yikes!
The backyard is merely the product of Renter's Neglect. Most of it hasn't been taken care of in well over a year and because it's so big it now looks like a wilderness preserve. The creek which I was imagining to be so picturesque isn't so much picturesque as deadly-looking (there's at least a 6-8 foot DROP down to the bank), but then we found out it's called Dead Horse Creek so I suppose the name makes the view rather fitting. LJ has decided to design some sort of old-fashioned type sign with a horse skeleton on it just to be funny. There IS a garden though and he can hardly wait to plant it. Our landlady (who is great, by the way!) had somebody come in last week to give an estimate so the yard could at least get a good once-over and then we can take it from there. Otherwise, just looking after that could be a year-long project.
We stayed at our new place from Monday until Thursday and came out here to my parents' place on Thursday afternoon. LJ is writing his certification exam as I'm typing this and lots of people are thinking of him and praying all goes well (this really is the last hurdle that we can think of since he needs the certification to work). I'm confident he'll do great though. He's pretty smart, you know.
Our first week back has been an interesting one when it comes to re-orienting myself to living in Canada. Things really are different here and food prices and car insurance prices and truly crappy cell-phone service plans have been a little shocking. On that note, I've decided not to rename the blog just yet because I still do feel like a bit of a stranger here.
Oh, a couple of fun bits of trivia for you:
1) Erin K. & Co. only live about a 10 minute walk from us (though it's been way too cold and I'm too tired to walk anywhere lately) and we are so excited to actually have friends in the same town.
2) Our next -door neighbours to the north of us are an older couple (who we've been assured will "keep a good eye on us" [read: spy]) who used to be good friends with my late grandparents.
3) We weren't even there for 72 hours and a lady from down the street stopped by to bring us (still warm from the oven!) raisin bran muffins (the LG devoured at least four of them) and a card to welcome us to town and told LJ "see you at the clinic!" He's not sure if she works there or if word just travels that fast. I'm pretty sure it just travels that fast.
4) And finally, when we leave my parents' house tomorrow, we're NOT getting on a plane!
*If you're getting to this post via a Google search for Canada Work Permit, let me just tell you that the government website is really incomplete. We learned a lot of things that nobody ever told us and we sure hadn't read anywhere. Email me if you have questions!
10 May, 2009
yikes!
It seems like forever since I've blogged and I'm just popping in to let you know that I won't be around for real for at least another week yet since we don't know when we'll have internet hooked up at our new place.
The trip so far has been exhausting and my ankles and feet end every day in swollen despair. We had a great stopover visiting friends in Iowa though and we've taken two days in Minneapolis to relax a bit. We spent WAY too much time at Ikea yesterday and spent more than we maybe should have but it was fun. Then we came back to the hotel for a breather before heading over to the Mall of America which was pretty much a bust for us because it's impossible to orient yourself fast enough to see everything you want to see. The only store we went into was the mall gift shop to pick up a postcard. Otherwise, we got food and poked around Legoland which was quite a disappointment. Plus, the LG was horridly crabby.
Anyway, LJ is reminding me that we have to finish getting ready to go and check-out is in fifteen minutes. Happy Mother's Day, Moms and I'll see you in a week or two (I haven't checked Google Reader lately and I'm afraid...very afraid....)!
The trip so far has been exhausting and my ankles and feet end every day in swollen despair. We had a great stopover visiting friends in Iowa though and we've taken two days in Minneapolis to relax a bit. We spent WAY too much time at Ikea yesterday and spent more than we maybe should have but it was fun. Then we came back to the hotel for a breather before heading over to the Mall of America which was pretty much a bust for us because it's impossible to orient yourself fast enough to see everything you want to see. The only store we went into was the mall gift shop to pick up a postcard. Otherwise, we got food and poked around Legoland which was quite a disappointment. Plus, the LG was horridly crabby.
Anyway, LJ is reminding me that we have to finish getting ready to go and check-out is in fifteen minutes. Happy Mother's Day, Moms and I'll see you in a week or two (I haven't checked Google Reader lately and I'm afraid...very afraid....)!
01 May, 2009
Quick Update
Hey, it turns out we don't have to drive down to Airport City for the Uhaul afterall! Hooray! The lady LJ talked to yesterday did some finagling and fixed it all up so it'll be in town tomorrow morning at 8!
Now we just need good truck-packing weather for tomorrow and good driving weather for the next week!
Now we just need good truck-packing weather for tomorrow and good driving weather for the next week!
30 April, 2009
Monkey Wrenches and Ice Cream
What's new around here:
1) The house appraisal was yesterday. We still haven't heard anything about that. Pray that it will have gone well. As I mentioned last time, that's really that last thing standing between us and the house sale closing.
2) We found out last night that since we're moving to Canada, the day we get there is the day our home/auto insurance from here expires. Apparently, this is unusual and we have a crappy insurance company. Boo!
3) We found out just this afternoon that the closest Uhaul truck we need is THREE HOURS away so the last day of packing we had planned (tomorrow) is now all going to have to happen tonight so we can drive all the way down to Airport City and back to pick up this stupid truck. The silver lining - if this level of inconvenience can really be called that; they knew more than a week ago that we needed this particular truck and where we're located - is that they're not going to charge us any extra. So we'll get a free day, free mileage and they'll give us some sort of credit for gas. But still - boo! I am NOT up for driving six hours tomorrow and we had several other last-minute errands to run besides that. I guess the other silverish living is that we can have people over to pack the truck as early as we want on Saturday morning. And, uh, as early as they're willing to come over, right?
4) Packing is really coming along (you'd be proud, Shalee!). Upstairs we just have the clothes we're wearing on the trip to pack and a few toiletries and the laundry detergent. Everything else is in boxes and ready for the truck. Down here, we just have the last-minute essentials (like my third baby - my computer) and things in the kitchen to pack which we are planning to take care of tonight. Between fancy pizza we're getting for supper tonight and finger-type foods, we've got enough to tide us over between now and leaving.
5) Last Saturday, we ran errands and then met up with our pastor and his wife for ice cream. All four of their kids were away for the week last week so we were celebrating the last minutes of their 'honeymoon' and just spending time with friends. The LG had her very first ice cream cone. Yup, her first. She'd never had ice cream before (and great, now we can never go for ice cream in peace anymore either) and it was a hit! We weren't sure how it was going to go over since she doesn't have much milk otherwise (the results are, uh, not too pretty), but everything was fine so maybe we can get her back on milk again soon. (Which would be great because buying soy milk is fine when it's only me using it because I don't use much, but when she's having it all the time too, it can get pricey.) Anyway, here are some pictures from that momentous occasion. Oh! And she actually SAT on GRASS. She won't even walk on our lawn; she just doesn't like grass, but she sat on it, ran around on it, and yes, even wore her little sunglasses. (Don't worry, she only wore them for two days; she broke them on Sunday afternoon.) Oh yes, and after she was finished her ice cream, but before we could wipe off her bib and her face, the wind blew the bib up over her head and she got sprayed all down the back with ice cream. Oops.
1) The house appraisal was yesterday. We still haven't heard anything about that. Pray that it will have gone well. As I mentioned last time, that's really that last thing standing between us and the house sale closing.
2) We found out last night that since we're moving to Canada, the day we get there is the day our home/auto insurance from here expires. Apparently, this is unusual and we have a crappy insurance company. Boo!
3) We found out just this afternoon that the closest Uhaul truck we need is THREE HOURS away so the last day of packing we had planned (tomorrow) is now all going to have to happen tonight so we can drive all the way down to Airport City and back to pick up this stupid truck. The silver lining - if this level of inconvenience can really be called that; they knew more than a week ago that we needed this particular truck and where we're located - is that they're not going to charge us any extra. So we'll get a free day, free mileage and they'll give us some sort of credit for gas. But still - boo! I am NOT up for driving six hours tomorrow and we had several other last-minute errands to run besides that. I guess the other silverish living is that we can have people over to pack the truck as early as we want on Saturday morning. And, uh, as early as they're willing to come over, right?
4) Packing is really coming along (you'd be proud, Shalee!). Upstairs we just have the clothes we're wearing on the trip to pack and a few toiletries and the laundry detergent. Everything else is in boxes and ready for the truck. Down here, we just have the last-minute essentials (like my third baby - my computer) and things in the kitchen to pack which we are planning to take care of tonight. Between fancy pizza we're getting for supper tonight and finger-type foods, we've got enough to tide us over between now and leaving.
5) Last Saturday, we ran errands and then met up with our pastor and his wife for ice cream. All four of their kids were away for the week last week so we were celebrating the last minutes of their 'honeymoon' and just spending time with friends. The LG had her very first ice cream cone. Yup, her first. She'd never had ice cream before (and great, now we can never go for ice cream in peace anymore either) and it was a hit! We weren't sure how it was going to go over since she doesn't have much milk otherwise (the results are, uh, not too pretty), but everything was fine so maybe we can get her back on milk again soon. (Which would be great because buying soy milk is fine when it's only me using it because I don't use much, but when she's having it all the time too, it can get pricey.) Anyway, here are some pictures from that momentous occasion. Oh! And she actually SAT on GRASS. She won't even walk on our lawn; she just doesn't like grass, but she sat on it, ran around on it, and yes, even wore her little sunglasses. (Don't worry, she only wore them for two days; she broke them on Sunday afternoon.) Oh yes, and after she was finished her ice cream, but before we could wipe off her bib and her face, the wind blew the bib up over her head and she got sprayed all down the back with ice cream. Oops.
23 April, 2009
2009 (so far) in Pictures
Being goofy in the hospital back in February.
Being goofy even while sleeping. (Yes, I will make sure this makes it into any wedding photo-montage - har!)
Helping Dad lick the beaters.
Easter basket!
For your weekly update this week I think I might actually have found the Easter pictures of the LG that I couldn't find last week.
**********************
The house inspection happened this past Tuesday and went quite well except for one thing that we already knew about from our own home inspection that doesn't really have to be fixed right this instant and well, we're not fixing it anyway. They'll get not a penny more out of us! The next step is the appraisal which will happen sometime in the next week. Pray that it will go well because that's really the last hurdle before the house closes on the 11th.
We've managed to sell both an old (though it was practically new in the box) air conditioner we had around but never used here and the lawn mower that we've been using that was in the shed when we got here, and we're really close to selling our entertainment unit which, while we really like it, is just too big and heavy to move one more time. Yesterday, LJ had a dentist appointment and when he came out of the office, there was a couple waiting by the car who offered him about 3/4 of our asking price. The only problem was how he would get home so they exchanged numbers. Sadly, they called back later that night and said they wouldn't be able to buy it after all. We're still hopeful though, that God will take it off our hands in the next week.
We're still planning on leaving on May 3rd. The packing (thanks for your encouragement, Shalee!) is going quite well and we should be finished packing up boxes and collecting them all in one room by the end of this weekend. Then we'll just have last-minute things and furniture to think about. It feels good to be this ready to go.
LJ has been fabulous about all this packing too. My ligament pain was replaced, overnight, by some horrid sciatic nerve and joint pain on my right side which has left me decidedly incapacitated. I have no choice but to waddle just to lessen the pain and moving around is generally excruciating. We were laughing last night about just how I plan to get into the U-Haul when we're on the road. LJ suggested rigging up some sort of hoist. Um, no thanks, Dear. I'll just grimace and bear it.
Oh, he did have one moment of cruelty this week though: when I got home on Tuesday after the inspection, there were four packages waiting for us. Two mundane packages with diapers for Sibling XX and some gifts I ordered for each of our midwives, and two mystery packages. As background, several years ago, a package arrived when I was at work one afternoon (our UPS guy delivered to my job too so he often left packages there for us). It was addressed to LJ but I didn't know of anything 'private' that he had ordered so I opened it right up. It was the latest edition of Pride & Prejudice (BBC) on DVD. Oops! It wasn't for any specific occasion so how was I to know? I shoved it back in the box and taped it back up. I did tell him later that I had actually opened it, after which I got quite the lecture.
So when the packages were sitting there on Tuesday begging me to open them, I resisted. Good thing because they are, evidently, for my birthday (only 11 more days, Brenda - yikes!). There are TWO mystery packages floating around the house for ELEVEN more days! The suspense is NOT amusing.
************
Next post, pictures.
**********************
The house inspection happened this past Tuesday and went quite well except for one thing that we already knew about from our own home inspection that doesn't really have to be fixed right this instant and well, we're not fixing it anyway. They'll get not a penny more out of us! The next step is the appraisal which will happen sometime in the next week. Pray that it will go well because that's really the last hurdle before the house closes on the 11th.
We've managed to sell both an old (though it was practically new in the box) air conditioner we had around but never used here and the lawn mower that we've been using that was in the shed when we got here, and we're really close to selling our entertainment unit which, while we really like it, is just too big and heavy to move one more time. Yesterday, LJ had a dentist appointment and when he came out of the office, there was a couple waiting by the car who offered him about 3/4 of our asking price. The only problem was how he would get home so they exchanged numbers. Sadly, they called back later that night and said they wouldn't be able to buy it after all. We're still hopeful though, that God will take it off our hands in the next week.
We're still planning on leaving on May 3rd. The packing (thanks for your encouragement, Shalee!) is going quite well and we should be finished packing up boxes and collecting them all in one room by the end of this weekend. Then we'll just have last-minute things and furniture to think about. It feels good to be this ready to go.
LJ has been fabulous about all this packing too. My ligament pain was replaced, overnight, by some horrid sciatic nerve and joint pain on my right side which has left me decidedly incapacitated. I have no choice but to waddle just to lessen the pain and moving around is generally excruciating. We were laughing last night about just how I plan to get into the U-Haul when we're on the road. LJ suggested rigging up some sort of hoist. Um, no thanks, Dear. I'll just grimace and bear it.
Oh, he did have one moment of cruelty this week though: when I got home on Tuesday after the inspection, there were four packages waiting for us. Two mundane packages with diapers for Sibling XX and some gifts I ordered for each of our midwives, and two mystery packages. As background, several years ago, a package arrived when I was at work one afternoon (our UPS guy delivered to my job too so he often left packages there for us). It was addressed to LJ but I didn't know of anything 'private' that he had ordered so I opened it right up. It was the latest edition of Pride & Prejudice (BBC) on DVD. Oops! It wasn't for any specific occasion so how was I to know? I shoved it back in the box and taped it back up. I did tell him later that I had actually opened it, after which I got quite the lecture.
So when the packages were sitting there on Tuesday begging me to open them, I resisted. Good thing because they are, evidently, for my birthday (only 11 more days, Brenda - yikes!). There are TWO mystery packages floating around the house for ELEVEN more days! The suspense is NOT amusing.
************
Next post, pictures.
17 April, 2009
Absenteeism
I've been absent this week, obviously.
We've been busy, mostly with procrastinating, but also with some appointments and packing and throwing away junk and trying to figure out what to pack now and what to leave out.
We leave here two weeks from tomorrow and every time I think about that I get a combination of butterflies and giddiness whirling in my stomach, in addition to the human being whirling in my belly.
Potty training has been irritating this week. It's one accident after another and the debate - which we thought we had solved - still rages over what to do in the process of moving.
Our Easter was fun. We had a breakfast at church, then home for a quick nap and then dinner with friends. The LG did great at hunting Easter eggs. After she had all her eggs in the basket, she sat down and methodically opened each one (after shaking it) and ate all her M&Ms.
We got three or four inches of snow between Sunday and Monday which was awful because, you know, it's SPRING and all, but by Tuesday evening, almost all of it was gone and today there are only remnants in a few places. LJ has taken the LG outside a few times to ride her tricycle which she LOVES even though she hasn't figured out how to actually peddle the thing yet. Coming back inside always involves a struggle because she's not ready to come in. Hopefully when we move the weather in Manitoba will be nice enough that they can get out and ride a little more often.
Here's a picture from Easter Sunday - pardon the shoes, we couldn't find any dress shoes we actually liked. Well, sorry. I can't find the pictures. It'll have to wait until later but trust me, she looked cute!
We've been busy, mostly with procrastinating, but also with some appointments and packing and throwing away junk and trying to figure out what to pack now and what to leave out.
We leave here two weeks from tomorrow and every time I think about that I get a combination of butterflies and giddiness whirling in my stomach, in addition to the human being whirling in my belly.
Potty training has been irritating this week. It's one accident after another and the debate - which we thought we had solved - still rages over what to do in the process of moving.
Our Easter was fun. We had a breakfast at church, then home for a quick nap and then dinner with friends. The LG did great at hunting Easter eggs. After she had all her eggs in the basket, she sat down and methodically opened each one (after shaking it) and ate all her M&Ms.
We got three or four inches of snow between Sunday and Monday which was awful because, you know, it's SPRING and all, but by Tuesday evening, almost all of it was gone and today there are only remnants in a few places. LJ has taken the LG outside a few times to ride her tricycle which she LOVES even though she hasn't figured out how to actually peddle the thing yet. Coming back inside always involves a struggle because she's not ready to come in. Hopefully when we move the weather in Manitoba will be nice enough that they can get out and ride a little more often.
Here's a picture from Easter Sunday - pardon the shoes, we couldn't find any dress shoes we actually liked. Well, sorry. I can't find the pictures. It'll have to wait until later but trust me, she looked cute!
07 April, 2009
Our Weekend, by the Way, Was Great!
LJ called the immigration people at the Port-of-Entry and the lady he talked to said there was something medical showing up in the system but then her computer froze. So we spent Friday evening getting together all the documents we needed to file LJ's Canadian Work Permit application. Letters, passports, pictures, emails, and receipts. Saturday morning, he called the POE again and talked to the Immigration guy and the medical exam information had all gone through and was positive so were set to go.
The POE we had to go to is only about an hour away so we got there at around 1:30 and were there for about two hours. As it turns out, they only needed three things: LJ's passport, his letter of offer of employment, and the Labour Market Opinion letter. We had the first two but only the system number for the LMO so LJ called the guy that's in charge of hiring him and he emailed it to the immigration officer and about a half hour and $150 later, we were set to go! He didn't even look at the stupid passport pictures OR the receipt that my Dad took great pains to scan and email first thing on Saturday morning (thanks anyway, Dad!).*
So, it's Officially Official. We are MOVING! It's REAL. The plan is to leave here on May 2nd and be in MB hopefully by the 12th. If you're calculating, that means we have three Saturdays to pack before we spend the fourth Saturday packing the U-Haul. This Saturday we're having Chris & Holly over for one last Easter Hurrah (I just filled some plastic eggs about 10 minutes ago). That leaves us with two Saturdays and then the evenings in between. Yikes!
If you know us at all, you know that LJ and I are both very gifted procrastinators. Very. Gifted. We can come up with numerous excuses - both legitimate and ridiculous. But, I just finished packing up the first box of kitchen stuff. Conveniently, most of our breakables are still packed from our last move since my china cabinet was destroyed when it flew off the back of a truck just before we moved (*ahem, LJ* and *sigh*) and since our current kitchen is so small, I keep a lot of my lesser-used kitchen articles in big plastic storage bins in a back room. That's at least eight boxes already waiting for a moving truck. Last night, too, we went through the freezer and threw away old freezer-burned food that we didn't need (like popsicles from two summers ago!) and threw away a few things from the pantry that were seriously outdated.
That said, I think I'm going to go work on packing up some of the LG's toys in her playroom which has been off-limits for several weeks already because it's been cold out and we don't keep the heat on back there. We drastically streamlined her toys last week when we were cleaning for the house showing and she hasn't seemed to miss them yet so I can pack those all up too. Not to worry! She's not completely devoid of toys! We've been building forts to read and play in in the living room, looking at catalogues before we rip them up for packing material, and she's been spending evenings playing with the big box of dominoes with LJ or colouring or SAYING WORDS - at least as of last night.
*For anyone that found this via googling Canadian Work Permit Application - let us encourage you to apply at a POE. LJ got his medical done first and they submitted the paperwork for that. Less than three weeks later that info had all gone through Ottawa and was in the computer. Applying at a POE was so much easier than having to send all the paperwork in the mail and risk getting it sent back because the information wasn't complete. You should make sure to bring all documentation listed on the checklist though, just in case the Immigration officer you see decides s/he wants more info than the guy that we saw.
The POE we had to go to is only about an hour away so we got there at around 1:30 and were there for about two hours. As it turns out, they only needed three things: LJ's passport, his letter of offer of employment, and the Labour Market Opinion letter. We had the first two but only the system number for the LMO so LJ called the guy that's in charge of hiring him and he emailed it to the immigration officer and about a half hour and $150 later, we were set to go! He didn't even look at the stupid passport pictures OR the receipt that my Dad took great pains to scan and email first thing on Saturday morning (thanks anyway, Dad!).*
So, it's Officially Official. We are MOVING! It's REAL. The plan is to leave here on May 2nd and be in MB hopefully by the 12th. If you're calculating, that means we have three Saturdays to pack before we spend the fourth Saturday packing the U-Haul. This Saturday we're having Chris & Holly over for one last Easter Hurrah (I just filled some plastic eggs about 10 minutes ago). That leaves us with two Saturdays and then the evenings in between. Yikes!
If you know us at all, you know that LJ and I are both very gifted procrastinators. Very. Gifted. We can come up with numerous excuses - both legitimate and ridiculous. But, I just finished packing up the first box of kitchen stuff. Conveniently, most of our breakables are still packed from our last move since my china cabinet was destroyed when it flew off the back of a truck just before we moved (*ahem, LJ* and *sigh*) and since our current kitchen is so small, I keep a lot of my lesser-used kitchen articles in big plastic storage bins in a back room. That's at least eight boxes already waiting for a moving truck. Last night, too, we went through the freezer and threw away old freezer-burned food that we didn't need (like popsicles from two summers ago!) and threw away a few things from the pantry that were seriously outdated.
That said, I think I'm going to go work on packing up some of the LG's toys in her playroom which has been off-limits for several weeks already because it's been cold out and we don't keep the heat on back there. We drastically streamlined her toys last week when we were cleaning for the house showing and she hasn't seemed to miss them yet so I can pack those all up too. Not to worry! She's not completely devoid of toys! We've been building forts to read and play in in the living room, looking at catalogues before we rip them up for packing material, and she's been spending evenings playing with the big box of dominoes with LJ or colouring or SAYING WORDS - at least as of last night.
*For anyone that found this via googling Canadian Work Permit Application - let us encourage you to apply at a POE. LJ got his medical done first and they submitted the paperwork for that. Less than three weeks later that info had all gone through Ottawa and was in the computer. Applying at a POE was so much easier than having to send all the paperwork in the mail and risk getting it sent back because the information wasn't complete. You should make sure to bring all documentation listed on the checklist though, just in case the Immigration officer you see decides s/he wants more info than the guy that we saw.
Whoa!
Get ready for it! We have WORDS!
REAL, RECOGNIZABLE WORDS!
"cat"
"cupcake"
"bob"
"duck"
FINALLY!
Now we just need to hear 'potty' and 'pee'.
REAL, RECOGNIZABLE WORDS!
"cat"
"cupcake"
"bob"
"duck"
FINALLY!
Now we just need to hear 'potty' and 'pee'.
31 March, 2009
It's Tuesday.
Despite having just had my glucose-tolerance test yesterday (and having a bad feeling about it, I might add), I am writing this while blissfully inhaling the smell of fresh oatmeal raisin cookies. I had me a hankerin' and wow are they good! It smells like Christmas in here.
Incidentally, it also looks a lot like Christmas outside. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous! On Saturday, LJ stayed home with the LG and I got to go do the grocery shopping all by myself! (With no child! And no diaper bag!) It would've been the perfect day for a road trip except that we're not quite ready to be on the road yet. On Sunday, I wore summer dress shoes and no socks - it was that nice out.
Halfway through church though, I looked out the window and it was snowing. These were snowflakes so big you could see them through the stained glass windows too. Basically, when all was said and done (sometime yesterday) we ended up with about six inches of fresh wet snow.
Thankfully, it was above zero (or above 32 for my American friends) today so everything was already starting to melt. It wasn't particularly sunny outside, but just the water pooling at the end of the driveway and dripping off the roof is enough to make me feel like Spring.
And speaking of water pooling, the LG had her third day in 'big girl' training pants but her first day with NO ACCIDENTS! It was a bit of an annoying day otherwise because she fluctuated between being ridiculously giddy and aggravatingly cranky but making it through clean and dry was worth it.
Incidentally, it also looks a lot like Christmas outside. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous! On Saturday, LJ stayed home with the LG and I got to go do the grocery shopping all by myself! (With no child! And no diaper bag!) It would've been the perfect day for a road trip except that we're not quite ready to be on the road yet. On Sunday, I wore summer dress shoes and no socks - it was that nice out.
Halfway through church though, I looked out the window and it was snowing. These were snowflakes so big you could see them through the stained glass windows too. Basically, when all was said and done (sometime yesterday) we ended up with about six inches of fresh wet snow.
Thankfully, it was above zero (or above 32 for my American friends) today so everything was already starting to melt. It wasn't particularly sunny outside, but just the water pooling at the end of the driveway and dripping off the roof is enough to make me feel like Spring.
And speaking of water pooling, the LG had her third day in 'big girl' training pants but her first day with NO ACCIDENTS! It was a bit of an annoying day otherwise because she fluctuated between being ridiculously giddy and aggravatingly cranky but making it through clean and dry was worth it.
26 March, 2009
More Exciting News Will Not Likely Be Posted On this Blog*
So several weeks back I think I mentioned that we had this unspoken prayer request and I had this big news to share with you that I just couldn't share yet. Then I threw you another bone a couple weeks ago saying I would spill the beans soon. Well this week I've been putting it off pending the notification of some of our close friends and family and then came the potty training so it's been a busy week.
Potty training is exhausting, yes, but not nearly as irksome as trying to figure out IMMIGRATION. Yup, it's true. Seven years ago, I endured most of the brunt of the horrid chaos that is U.S. Immigration, but this time, my friends, the tables are turned! The story goes a little something like this:
In late November/early December, we got an email from my Uncle. The email contained a note and an attachment advertising an opening for a job in LJ's field in my home province (*squee!*). Friends and family who live around there have been keeping their eyes peeled for some time but most of the jobs around there are split up - so you do one job half the time and another job the other half of the time, the second job being one that LJ isn't qualified for. Well anyway, completely on a whim, we prayed about it and the next night fancied up LJ's resume and off went the email. The NEXT DAY, he heard back from the clinic administrator who wanted to be in touch with him as soon as possible.
Not two weeks later, there had been enough communication between the administrator and LJ to solidify their interest in hiring him. However, one very major thing needed to happen first: The clinic had to check with the Canadian government to prove that they couldn't find a 'local' to do the job and that they needed to hire a foreigner. Getting the Labour Market Opinion took only about two weeks and it came back positive.
To make a long story slightly shorter, while we were excited at the prospect of this job, we didn't say anything to very many people because it still seemed like such a long shot. Then the week before Christmas when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer, we started to let our hopes get a little higher. That God would give us this opportunity at just this time seemed almost a little unreal.
We have gone through several immigration hoops already and we have the forms filled out and ready for LJ's work permit application which can't be done until his medical results clear somebody's desk in Ottawa. Once those results clear, we can take the application down to a Port-of-Entry (where you go through a border crossing into Canada) and apply for the permit. Once he has the stamp of approval, we are ready to go (well, technically, the LG and I could go anytime....but we're already Canadian). Hopefully the medical results will clear quickly, because we need to be in my hometown before May 19th since that's the day LJ writes his Canadian Certification Exam so he can legally practice in Canada. Then we'll be settling in to our NEW hometown to commence work and life!
I'm vastly oversimplyfying here because the whole story could take a long time to write but I'll tell you a few really great things about this move:
1) The town is only 2 1/2 hours from where my parents live (and I don't think I have to tell you how excited I am about the prospect of being so close to them and my best friend Chandra after being so far away for seven years)!
2) The town is only about ten minutes away from the illustrious Erin K. & Co. (which means the LG can actually have a little toddler friend at her birthday 'party' this year)!
3) The town just so happens to be chock-full of college friends and more importantly - my relatives! YIPPEE! Actual people our age! Actual friends who are already friends! Actual family nearby!
4) The new job means a pay-raise (despite the currency conversion). It also comes with more responsibility and the possibility of LJ becoming a supervisor of a department as well as the opportunity to train in a completely new field, courtesy of the clinic.
5) The town is like Mennonite-central, people! Perogies, Farmer's Sausage, rollkuchen, watermelon and all the other Menno delights that we've missed for so long, plus the town and the one next door both have a major summer festival, one of which entails a giant barbecue cook-off which the LJ can hardly wait for! (The man loves his barbecue!)
6) This has been an incredible opportunity for God to stretch our faith and cause growth in us (see the next list below) as well as an opportunity to share with our friends how God's grace and sovereignty have been so particularly active in our lives as of late.
Now the downside:
1) The climate is pretty much exactly the same as here so we will, sadly, have to bring our shovels with us.
2) Our house here remains unsold and as you can imagine, paying a mortgage and rent at the same time isn't feasible. We are trusting God with the sale of the house because it belongs to Him and He will sell it in His time. We are also extremely grateful to have a place to stay, if temporarily, with my Uncle R. & Aunt E. (THANK YOU! A thousand times - THANK YOU!) when we get there. Please pray with us for the quick sale of our house. We know the market is poor right now but again, it's not truly our house to sell.
3) We are playing the waiting game with immigration at the moment. We need LJ's medical results to pass quickly so we can be underway and on the road on or around my birthday (4 May). If it comes any later, we may be stuck here until July after Sibling XX gets here.
4) Nearly everything in Canada is more expensive than here (eg. the giant box of honey nut cheerios that costs $4.12 here, costs about $7.69 there), and we are bracing for things like car insurance, rent, gasoline, and just paying to get there, while rejoicing in the prospect of free healthcare (no matter how much most Americans diss it, I would trade long lines for free almost any day, plus the chance to deliver Sibling XX without getting a medical bill back from the hospital), and monthly checks from the government to help with the costs of raising kids...and all the other good things I already listed above.
A friend of ours who is in the same line of work as LJ but in a different Manitoba city, told me that every person in their field in Manitoba would've seen this job ad, yet of all those people (and we don't know how many applied) the clinic chose to pursue LJ! That gives us even more confidence in this being part of God's plan for us even as we are daily praying and trusting for Him to finalize all the details that need to be in place before we move. We are sitting at about 90% sure that this move will happen and praying that if for some reason, God chooses to close the door, He will do so in the most gentle way possible. Please pray with us for grace and guidance as we wait for whatever is next, and know that we are (to the best of our ability) giving God glory for how He has blessed us in this process so far!
NOW, you are in the know! FINALLY!
*Unless of course we ever actually get pregnant with a boy child, in which case, I will NOT be able to contain my excitement for anywhere NEAR this long.....
Potty training is exhausting, yes, but not nearly as irksome as trying to figure out IMMIGRATION. Yup, it's true. Seven years ago, I endured most of the brunt of the horrid chaos that is U.S. Immigration, but this time, my friends, the tables are turned! The story goes a little something like this:
In late November/early December, we got an email from my Uncle. The email contained a note and an attachment advertising an opening for a job in LJ's field in my home province (*squee!*). Friends and family who live around there have been keeping their eyes peeled for some time but most of the jobs around there are split up - so you do one job half the time and another job the other half of the time, the second job being one that LJ isn't qualified for. Well anyway, completely on a whim, we prayed about it and the next night fancied up LJ's resume and off went the email. The NEXT DAY, he heard back from the clinic administrator who wanted to be in touch with him as soon as possible.
Not two weeks later, there had been enough communication between the administrator and LJ to solidify their interest in hiring him. However, one very major thing needed to happen first: The clinic had to check with the Canadian government to prove that they couldn't find a 'local' to do the job and that they needed to hire a foreigner. Getting the Labour Market Opinion took only about two weeks and it came back positive.
To make a long story slightly shorter, while we were excited at the prospect of this job, we didn't say anything to very many people because it still seemed like such a long shot. Then the week before Christmas when my Mom was diagnosed with cancer, we started to let our hopes get a little higher. That God would give us this opportunity at just this time seemed almost a little unreal.
We have gone through several immigration hoops already and we have the forms filled out and ready for LJ's work permit application which can't be done until his medical results clear somebody's desk in Ottawa. Once those results clear, we can take the application down to a Port-of-Entry (where you go through a border crossing into Canada) and apply for the permit. Once he has the stamp of approval, we are ready to go (well, technically, the LG and I could go anytime....but we're already Canadian). Hopefully the medical results will clear quickly, because we need to be in my hometown before May 19th since that's the day LJ writes his Canadian Certification Exam so he can legally practice in Canada. Then we'll be settling in to our NEW hometown to commence work and life!
I'm vastly oversimplyfying here because the whole story could take a long time to write but I'll tell you a few really great things about this move:
1) The town is only 2 1/2 hours from where my parents live (and I don't think I have to tell you how excited I am about the prospect of being so close to them and my best friend Chandra after being so far away for seven years)!
2) The town is only about ten minutes away from the illustrious Erin K. & Co. (which means the LG can actually have a little toddler friend at her birthday 'party' this year)!
3) The town just so happens to be chock-full of college friends and more importantly - my relatives! YIPPEE! Actual people our age! Actual friends who are already friends! Actual family nearby!
4) The new job means a pay-raise (despite the currency conversion). It also comes with more responsibility and the possibility of LJ becoming a supervisor of a department as well as the opportunity to train in a completely new field, courtesy of the clinic.
5) The town is like Mennonite-central, people! Perogies, Farmer's Sausage, rollkuchen, watermelon and all the other Menno delights that we've missed for so long, plus the town and the one next door both have a major summer festival, one of which entails a giant barbecue cook-off which the LJ can hardly wait for! (The man loves his barbecue!)
6) This has been an incredible opportunity for God to stretch our faith and cause growth in us (see the next list below) as well as an opportunity to share with our friends how God's grace and sovereignty have been so particularly active in our lives as of late.
Now the downside:
1) The climate is pretty much exactly the same as here so we will, sadly, have to bring our shovels with us.
2) Our house here remains unsold and as you can imagine, paying a mortgage and rent at the same time isn't feasible. We are trusting God with the sale of the house because it belongs to Him and He will sell it in His time. We are also extremely grateful to have a place to stay, if temporarily, with my Uncle R. & Aunt E. (THANK YOU! A thousand times - THANK YOU!) when we get there. Please pray with us for the quick sale of our house. We know the market is poor right now but again, it's not truly our house to sell.
3) We are playing the waiting game with immigration at the moment. We need LJ's medical results to pass quickly so we can be underway and on the road on or around my birthday (4 May). If it comes any later, we may be stuck here until July after Sibling XX gets here.
4) Nearly everything in Canada is more expensive than here (eg. the giant box of honey nut cheerios that costs $4.12 here, costs about $7.69 there), and we are bracing for things like car insurance, rent, gasoline, and just paying to get there, while rejoicing in the prospect of free healthcare (no matter how much most Americans diss it, I would trade long lines for free almost any day, plus the chance to deliver Sibling XX without getting a medical bill back from the hospital), and monthly checks from the government to help with the costs of raising kids...and all the other good things I already listed above.
A friend of ours who is in the same line of work as LJ but in a different Manitoba city, told me that every person in their field in Manitoba would've seen this job ad, yet of all those people (and we don't know how many applied) the clinic chose to pursue LJ! That gives us even more confidence in this being part of God's plan for us even as we are daily praying and trusting for Him to finalize all the details that need to be in place before we move. We are sitting at about 90% sure that this move will happen and praying that if for some reason, God chooses to close the door, He will do so in the most gentle way possible. Please pray with us for grace and guidance as we wait for whatever is next, and know that we are (to the best of our ability) giving God glory for how He has blessed us in this process so far!
NOW, you are in the know! FINALLY!
*Unless of course we ever actually get pregnant with a boy child, in which case, I will NOT be able to contain my excitement for anywhere NEAR this long.....
PT Update
Well yesterday was a resounding potty training success with only one major and one minor accident and the culmination of a hard day's work with a 'plop' in the toilet! The reward for that? TWO loopy fruits. (One for 1, two for 2, right?)
The Little Goat must have a bladder of steel or something because this morning she didn't go once until right when she was finishing her lunch and she decided that the spot under her little table in the kitchen hadn't been disinfected quite enough times yet; at least she finished up in the bathroom. AND, she was quite upset by her accident which I understand is a good sign.
This has been a rewarding venture although it's made this week feel like the longest week ever and I am exhausted! Seasoned parents will laugh when I say this but I never imagined potty training to be so tiring. Stressful, yes, but not nearly so tiring!
Now we're trying to figure out what comes next and how to get her used to public toilets and what to do during church (so as to avoid a wet pew). Anybody have any suggestions?
Also, come back in a half hour because, that's right, the time is now and you know what's coming....
The Little Goat must have a bladder of steel or something because this morning she didn't go once until right when she was finishing her lunch and she decided that the spot under her little table in the kitchen hadn't been disinfected quite enough times yet; at least she finished up in the bathroom. AND, she was quite upset by her accident which I understand is a good sign.
This has been a rewarding venture although it's made this week feel like the longest week ever and I am exhausted! Seasoned parents will laugh when I say this but I never imagined potty training to be so tiring. Stressful, yes, but not nearly so tiring!
Now we're trying to figure out what comes next and how to get her used to public toilets and what to do during church (so as to avoid a wet pew). Anybody have any suggestions?
Also, come back in a half hour because, that's right, the time is now and you know what's coming....
23 March, 2009
Success!
Well, it's almost 5pm and we've had success twice since LJ got home (Hmph! Figures!). The first time she must've sat there for almost 10 minutes but we gave her some books. Little piddles kept coming every couple minutes so we just let her stay. She seemed pretty happy about it. I think she might be figuring out that peeing = loops 'o' fruit. Hmmm...
Now, if we can just get her to tell us when she needs to go....
Now, if we can just get her to tell us when she needs to go....
Does it Get Any More Exciting Than This?
We make our own yogurt and when that happens, it's usually on Friday nights because then we have it for pancakes or scones or granola on Saturday morning...and because we're just really exciting like that.
I also do this thing called Nielsen Homescan (and yes, we've been a Nielsen TV family three times now - nice!) which means when we buy groceries, I scan the UPC codes and enter prices. I'm helping with national consumer research and mostly I do it because I get points that add up and then I can 'cash them in' for prizes. I have been working towards a jogging stroller for the last 2 1/2 years. Until Friday, when I noticed they changed the catalogue and the jogging stroller that was 77,000 points has been replaced with a fancier model that's 209,000 points. I'm kind of done with doing the Homescan thing because with another baby coming, it seems like just one more thing to take up my time and there's no way I'm going to earn over 100,000 points in 13 weeks (yes, that's 1-3 folks). So, it's time to cash in the points.
ANYWAY, last Friday night (which was decidely less eventful than Erin K.'s) we put the milk in a pot on the stove and turned it on to heat up to make yogurt. In the meantime, I was trying to convince LJ that it was time to close the Mozilla window on some scholarly paper he was reading because it was Friday night and while we may be boring enough to make yogurt on a Friday night, I'm finished with college and there's no way I'm going to spend my Friday night reading scholarly articles. So he closed the window and we started looking through the points catalogue.
So caught up were we that after checking and stirring the milk one or two times, we forgot about it. I walked into the kitchen and it was seconds from boiling over and the temperature was up over 220 (it's only supposed to get to 185). So we now had a half gallon of very scalded milk.
"Wanna make hot chocolate," I asked?.
"Uh, okay."
Except then we had a problem because my recipe for homemade hot chocolate only makes two servings and we obviously had enough hot milk for a LOT more than that. So hilarity ensued as we were standing there for the better part of 20 minutes trying to figure out fractions and measurements and *gasp* be almost scholarly.
Now, we have a 1/2 gallon of 'hot' chocolate in the fridge waiting to be reheated, which I guess is good except that we hardly ever drink hot chocolate at home.
On the bright side, we're reasonably sure what we're going to get with our Homescan points.
And that is all for today.
I also do this thing called Nielsen Homescan (and yes, we've been a Nielsen TV family three times now - nice!) which means when we buy groceries, I scan the UPC codes and enter prices. I'm helping with national consumer research and mostly I do it because I get points that add up and then I can 'cash them in' for prizes. I have been working towards a jogging stroller for the last 2 1/2 years. Until Friday, when I noticed they changed the catalogue and the jogging stroller that was 77,000 points has been replaced with a fancier model that's 209,000 points. I'm kind of done with doing the Homescan thing because with another baby coming, it seems like just one more thing to take up my time and there's no way I'm going to earn over 100,000 points in 13 weeks (yes, that's 1-3 folks). So, it's time to cash in the points.
ANYWAY, last Friday night (which was decidely less eventful than Erin K.'s) we put the milk in a pot on the stove and turned it on to heat up to make yogurt. In the meantime, I was trying to convince LJ that it was time to close the Mozilla window on some scholarly paper he was reading because it was Friday night and while we may be boring enough to make yogurt on a Friday night, I'm finished with college and there's no way I'm going to spend my Friday night reading scholarly articles. So he closed the window and we started looking through the points catalogue.
So caught up were we that after checking and stirring the milk one or two times, we forgot about it. I walked into the kitchen and it was seconds from boiling over and the temperature was up over 220 (it's only supposed to get to 185). So we now had a half gallon of very scalded milk.
"Wanna make hot chocolate," I asked?.
"Uh, okay."
Except then we had a problem because my recipe for homemade hot chocolate only makes two servings and we obviously had enough hot milk for a LOT more than that. So hilarity ensued as we were standing there for the better part of 20 minutes trying to figure out fractions and measurements and *gasp* be almost scholarly.
Now, we have a 1/2 gallon of 'hot' chocolate in the fridge waiting to be reheated, which I guess is good except that we hardly ever drink hot chocolate at home.
On the bright side, we're reasonably sure what we're going to get with our Homescan points.
And that is all for today.
20 March, 2009
Happy Vernal Equinox!
Hooray for the first day of Spring! It's not especially warm here although it's been above zero Celsius on every other day this week, but the sky is a cloudless, Spring blue and the sun is shining!
Mr. J. (hereafter known as LJ....because I feel like it) and I have decided that regardless of the LG's present choice not to speak using actual words (so she'll have to come up with some other sort of sign), Sibling XX is on the way and it's time for potty training. We were already figuring this won't be an easy task but I got an email from my good friend Kara yesterday outlining the basics of the Azrin-Foxx Method (as they used it) and now we're feeling decidedly daunted!
At any rate, I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I think we'll start on Monday morning.
Oh yes, and make sure you stop by next week because that big prayer request I've been talking about for,uh, a while will be big news around here - things are about 90% 'sure' so we're finally ready to spill the beans! Yay!
Mr. J. (hereafter known as LJ....because I feel like it) and I have decided that regardless of the LG's present choice not to speak using actual words (so she'll have to come up with some other sort of sign), Sibling XX is on the way and it's time for potty training. We were already figuring this won't be an easy task but I got an email from my good friend Kara yesterday outlining the basics of the Azrin-Foxx Method (as they used it) and now we're feeling decidedly daunted!
At any rate, I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I think we'll start on Monday morning.
Oh yes, and make sure you stop by next week because that big prayer request I've been talking about for,uh, a while will be big news around here - things are about 90% 'sure' so we're finally ready to spill the beans! Yay!
13 March, 2009
Happy Weekend!
So today we're getting back into our normal activities. Yesterday was devoted to laundry and resting a little. Today will be about bills and meal planning and sorting mail and oh, did I mention PRAISING GOD?!
My parents went into Surgery City yesterday for a post-op with Mom's surgeon who said as far as he's concerned, they got everything and there is no more cancer! She's going to have three radiation treatments anyway because it brings the chance of something popping up down to 1% from 20%, but 30 total minutes of discomfort for those odds is pretty doable. Please continue to pray for Mom & Dad as they travel for the treatments. Also pray that the side-effects will be minimal. And hey, while you're at it - praise God for this awesome display of His sovereignty and power.
My parents went into Surgery City yesterday for a post-op with Mom's surgeon who said as far as he's concerned, they got everything and there is no more cancer! She's going to have three radiation treatments anyway because it brings the chance of something popping up down to 1% from 20%, but 30 total minutes of discomfort for those odds is pretty doable. Please continue to pray for Mom & Dad as they travel for the treatments. Also pray that the side-effects will be minimal. And hey, while you're at it - praise God for this awesome display of His sovereignty and power.
12 March, 2009
Testing a Mom's Mettle
We finally got back last night just before dinner. Three weeks was just about the right amount of time to be Home in Manitoba but the Little Goat and me being sick for a week and a half in the middle of the trip seemed to make it stretch on even longer.
The first few days were fine but the LG must've picked up some sort of virus from the airplane (or maybe we were just never quite over whatever it was we had before we left) and after nearly a week of being sick, ended up in the hospital for two nights on the 27th/28th. My Mom and I took her to a walk-in clinic on that Friday and the doctor couldn't come up with any diagnosis so she referred us to the pediatrician on-call in the ER. It didn't take him very long to determine that she was quite dehydrated and needed an IV.
It took the doctor, a resident, and four nurses to take blood samples and get the IV started. It was awful. In the meantime, my Mom went home and got together some stuff for us and my best friend, Chandra (she told me I should write about her because she wants her 15 minutes of fame and somehow she's crazy enough to think my blog is going to get that for her - hah! Such a supportive friend.....), stopped by and picked up everything to bring it to the hospital.
They finally took us up to the LG's room at almost 9pm. There have been plenty of updates to the hospital recently, but evidently, none in the pediatric ward in the last 25 years. Pepto-bismal-pink walls with really old-school Sesame Street Baby wallpaper border, the oldest bed in the ward (I checked; the nurse the first night could barely get the siderail up!), and an all-metal crib that looked like something you'd find in a Cold War bunker. The nightshift nurses were great for the most part but the day shift nurses? Wow. Cranky to the nth degree...until I told them we were paying for every dollar of our stay and then things did a 180. Hmmm....
The pediatrician was great! I was completely impressed with his bedside manner and interaction with the LG. I also felt like he *gasp* valued my opinion! It turned out though, that while we were on the same page as far as what we were hoping for, he wasn't quite as in a hurry as I was to get the LG discharged. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to stay in a second night ($$) but eventually caved and to bed we went.
All this time, we were concerned but not overly about the hospital bill we knew was coming. (And here's where this post turns from simply a woeful tale into a cautionary tale.) We bought travel insurance which included medical coverage before we left Maine, but alas, I screwed it up. You know how when you're filling out forms online and you miss something on the first page so you go back, fix it, and then continue but for some reason not all the information took? Yeah, well I did that. For whatever reason, I checked and re-checked the information I had entered but never noticed that the trip dates were entered wrong. Nobody from the insurance company caught it either, so I didn't know until I called in to start a medical claim that according to the policy we purchased, we traveled from Maine to Manitoba AND BACK on the same day. (Physically impossible, I know.) So, we are now on the hook for the entire $3500 hospital bill. Oh yay us.
So there you have it. The 10 days after the hospital visit were good. We got to see all my cousins and Erin K. & Co., I got to spend lots of time with Chandra, and lots of evenings playing cards with my Mom, lots of time watching curling with my Dad, Anja brought a lot of joy to Grama & Grampa's house when joy was needed most....and now we are in more debt than we ever thought we could possibly need at the worst possible time we can imagine.
The moral of the story? Uh, I don't really know how to encapsulate it in one sentence, but for the love of all things good - quadruple-check the dates when you enter information online!
The first few days were fine but the LG must've picked up some sort of virus from the airplane (or maybe we were just never quite over whatever it was we had before we left) and after nearly a week of being sick, ended up in the hospital for two nights on the 27th/28th. My Mom and I took her to a walk-in clinic on that Friday and the doctor couldn't come up with any diagnosis so she referred us to the pediatrician on-call in the ER. It didn't take him very long to determine that she was quite dehydrated and needed an IV.
It took the doctor, a resident, and four nurses to take blood samples and get the IV started. It was awful. In the meantime, my Mom went home and got together some stuff for us and my best friend, Chandra (she told me I should write about her because she wants her 15 minutes of fame and somehow she's crazy enough to think my blog is going to get that for her - hah! Such a supportive friend.....), stopped by and picked up everything to bring it to the hospital.
They finally took us up to the LG's room at almost 9pm. There have been plenty of updates to the hospital recently, but evidently, none in the pediatric ward in the last 25 years. Pepto-bismal-pink walls with really old-school Sesame Street Baby wallpaper border, the oldest bed in the ward (I checked; the nurse the first night could barely get the siderail up!), and an all-metal crib that looked like something you'd find in a Cold War bunker. The nightshift nurses were great for the most part but the day shift nurses? Wow. Cranky to the nth degree...until I told them we were paying for every dollar of our stay and then things did a 180. Hmmm....
The pediatrician was great! I was completely impressed with his bedside manner and interaction with the LG. I also felt like he *gasp* valued my opinion! It turned out though, that while we were on the same page as far as what we were hoping for, he wasn't quite as in a hurry as I was to get the LG discharged. I was really hoping we wouldn't have to stay in a second night ($$) but eventually caved and to bed we went.
All this time, we were concerned but not overly about the hospital bill we knew was coming. (And here's where this post turns from simply a woeful tale into a cautionary tale.) We bought travel insurance which included medical coverage before we left Maine, but alas, I screwed it up. You know how when you're filling out forms online and you miss something on the first page so you go back, fix it, and then continue but for some reason not all the information took? Yeah, well I did that. For whatever reason, I checked and re-checked the information I had entered but never noticed that the trip dates were entered wrong. Nobody from the insurance company caught it either, so I didn't know until I called in to start a medical claim that according to the policy we purchased, we traveled from Maine to Manitoba AND BACK on the same day. (Physically impossible, I know.) So, we are now on the hook for the entire $3500 hospital bill. Oh yay us.
So there you have it. The 10 days after the hospital visit were good. We got to see all my cousins and Erin K. & Co., I got to spend lots of time with Chandra, and lots of evenings playing cards with my Mom, lots of time watching curling with my Dad, Anja brought a lot of joy to Grama & Grampa's house when joy was needed most....and now we are in more debt than we ever thought we could possibly need at the worst possible time we can imagine.
The moral of the story? Uh, I don't really know how to encapsulate it in one sentence, but for the love of all things good - quadruple-check the dates when you enter information online!
24 February, 2009
We're Here!
Well lest anyone start to wonder if I actually made it to Manitoba or not, I figured I bet get something posted up here.
We got here last Tuesday. The trip out was, in two words or less: wretchedly awful. The Little Goat had no interest in sleeping at the hotel, only jumping on the hotel bed and looking out the window at all the passing cars. I hardly slept at all either which turned out to be a good thing since I set my alarm for three PM instead of AM. At any rate, the LG was up at 3:30am Atlantic Time and didn't sleep on the first flight despite still being in pajamas with all the cabin lights dimmed. Alas, she didn't sleep on the second flight either which means that from 3:30am until 12PM Atlantic time, she didn't sleep one wink. I've never been so thankful for seatback television before (or the Treehouse network for that matter).
Anyway, we're here now. My Mom ended up spending a couple extra nights in observation in the hospital back home but is home now and well on the way to recovery.
The LG, on the other hand, is sicker than she's ever been with some sort of evil virus. She's had a fever on and off and been puking and generally lethargic since later Saturday evening.
Other than that, things have been fairly uneventful around here. I went to my best friend's birthday party on Saturday evening and can't remember the last time I laughed that much or that hard - I miss having a good group of girls to hang out with.
Anyway, I'm off to check on the LG who is having her sixth (seventh?) nap of the day.
We got here last Tuesday. The trip out was, in two words or less: wretchedly awful. The Little Goat had no interest in sleeping at the hotel, only jumping on the hotel bed and looking out the window at all the passing cars. I hardly slept at all either which turned out to be a good thing since I set my alarm for three PM instead of AM. At any rate, the LG was up at 3:30am Atlantic Time and didn't sleep on the first flight despite still being in pajamas with all the cabin lights dimmed. Alas, she didn't sleep on the second flight either which means that from 3:30am until 12PM Atlantic time, she didn't sleep one wink. I've never been so thankful for seatback television before (or the Treehouse network for that matter).
Anyway, we're here now. My Mom ended up spending a couple extra nights in observation in the hospital back home but is home now and well on the way to recovery.
The LG, on the other hand, is sicker than she's ever been with some sort of evil virus. She's had a fever on and off and been puking and generally lethargic since later Saturday evening.
Other than that, things have been fairly uneventful around here. I went to my best friend's birthday party on Saturday evening and can't remember the last time I laughed that much or that hard - I miss having a good group of girls to hang out with.
Anyway, I'm off to check on the LG who is having her sixth (seventh?) nap of the day.
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