Road Trip

Rawley and I went on a little road trip yesterday to visitour friend, Bonnie, in Bellvue WA.

It was an interesting trip. Our morning started out late after a rough night then the border guard didn't want to even let us cross the border. He was not so pleasant. I had choice words for him but I will keep them to myself.

Before leaving I checked the weather in Bellvue, Bellingham and Abbotsford. It was suppose to be mainly sunny and plus 2 degrees. There was no snow in the forecast.

Well they were wrong.

By the time we got to bellingham it was snowing heavily. Americans (no offense) do not drive well in the snow. The pass between Bellingham and Skagit was a little icy and we saw a few car accidents. 10 to be exact. Yes, 10 accidents in a 25 minute stretch of highway. what?

We got to Bellvue around 1pm and had a wonderful afternoon visiting with Jovana & Bonnie. Bonnie is my friends with MS (from previous posts). I do not get down to the states often enough to see her so when we get to go it is extra special. Jovana has 3 boys and one is the same age as Rawley so they always have fun playing when they get to see each other.

Thank you for a wonderful day ladies. It really does mean a lot to me to just sit and be able to talk about life, struggles, children..... Love you both!

A few pictures of the accidents we saw. Only a couple seemed serious at all, they were mostly just fender benders.

The Cat is Out of The Bag

I finally told my boss I was pregnant yesterday. It was a very hard thing for me to do and I stressed for a long time about when and how to tell him.

My manager and I do not necessarily see eye-to-eye. Actually my boss doesn't really see eye-to-eye with many people.

A little history of my position:
I am an administrative assistant for a industrial sandblasting and painting company. My job is to keep the office in order and make sure the men at our job sites have all the things they need when they are there. I create all the job books and get their safety manual ready. I also order all the supplies as they need it and organize shipping to and from sites all over western Canada. This job is a hard one to learn as it is not very repetitive and there is something new all the time. I had to be here a full year before I had learned everything and then by the time the next year rolled around I almost had to relearn it all. I also do all the insurance on our fleet vehicles, accounts payables, HR stuff....That is the first reason this job is hard. Before I started here they had gone through 6 girls in 5 years. It is hard to get someone who will stay at the job for many reasons. One of many is the manager

The manager is not easy to get along with. I am not sure if the pressure if running a whole branch of a company is what gets to him but he has a habit of blaming, belittling, and just making one feel as though they are completely incompetent. He talks to me in a very disrespectful way. (which I eventually let him know) He has given me three raises and told me on those three different occasions that I am good at my job, but everyday in between he does not make me feel that way. No matter what I do it is wrong or anything that just happens to go wrong is a result of me doing something. Also, he has never made a mistake ever!!! ;)

Girls just get sick of it and quit, (I almost did twice) they can't put up with the way they are treated. So, why have a stayed longer than any other girl? Because the money is good, I have benefits for the first time since Rawley was born, the hours are great, it is actually a very interesting job. I like to be involved in the more manly things out there but this is nice because I get to be involved but still stay inside and sit down. I get to learn things most girls would never understand and I love it, but I don't actually have to get dirty (well not very often) I have occasionally had to drive the forklift, deliver 5 tons trucks to the repair shop and crawl around our huge dusty shop.

Even though my manager has been the major problem here and I have had my ego hurt more than once and tears have certainly flowed down my cheeks. I do have a great bunch of guys out on job sites that appreciate everything I do and stand up for me all the time. I love my site guys. They are polite and courteous to me and say 'thank you' when I do things for them. I know when I leave them with a new girl who does not know what she is doing it will make each one of their jobs harder when they need to call the office for something and no one can help them.

I have really lost my point here... oh right, why was I so scared to tell my manager..

Well we don't talk. We don't even say good morning most of the time, unless it is job related we hardly say a word to each other. He is not so social. So any conversation I have with him is really awkward. He also does not have kids so there is no common ground there. I am well aware of how hard it is going to be to replace me. I am not trying to toot my own horn , but I have put up with A LOT here. I have been yelled at, talked down to, stressed to the limit (bawling like a baby), unappreciated...and for the most part I have done it all without a complaint. When the guys call desperate for something I make sure they get it. I work my butt off here learning everything I need to know and more and I care. I care that I do a good job, I care about all my guys out on the job site that are stranded without respirators or need more time sheets like yesterday. So it was very scary to tell them I was going to be leaving.

My manager gets upset when I miss a day of work how can I tell him I am going to miss 365 days and maybe (definitely) not return at all.

Anyway....... now you know a little bit about my job and why I love it and hate it at the same time.

Now...how did it go when i told them? Well, I was smart about it. I waited till our company president was out from Ontario. I did not want to confront my boss alone. Our president is a really nice guy and has always been respectful and kind to me. He also has 3 kids and we share stories often. I knew he would have more understanding. So, while he was here I got them together after much fretting, shaking, sweating, nausea......... The president said "Congratulations" and seemed genuinely happy for me. He told me not to worry, that we would find a temp and my job would be here if I choose to return. The president and I made small chit chat while my boss just stood there and stared at me not saying a single word. Yikes! Then the room grew silent. I felt awkward so i said, "well that was all" and started to leave the room. with that my boss said, "um, right, okay"

Now if I can make it 6 months without being cornered and drilled with a ton of questions he is not even allowed to ask me I will be happy. Although those that know my boss know that it is almost inevitable. Here's to hoping.

I don't know why my small stories always turn into novels. I guess that is why I started a blog. That way you don't have to listen to (or technically read about) me if you don't want.

Pictures to go with yesterday's post. I thought I had some pictures of our Christmas tree too, but I was wrong. (not the first time either, and won't be the last) I will get some this Friday when we go to decorate.

So Very Busy

We had a very busy weekend this weekend and another one just around the corner. Friday night we braved the CandleLight Parade in Mission. It was cold but so worth it. The floats are always wonderful and all the Christmas music really gets you into the spirit. Rawley got a bucket full of candy so he was really happy.
Then Saturday Rawley and I had a date to finish up our Christmas shopping for Ryan. We did well actually. The only person left to shop for is my dad and then we are all done for the year. Yes!
Saturday night Owyn came over to hang out. Owyn is my 19 months old nephew. We had a blast with him. What was not cool was the 5:15am wake up call. Who wants to play at 5:15am? He even turned down a bottle just to run around and make noise.
Sunday we had lunch at my grandparents house. Grandma and I worked out who will cook/buy what for her Boxing Day open house get together. Then on our way home we stopped by Giesbrecht Tree Farm for our Noble Fir Christmas tree.
We had time to set it up at my dad's house and add the lights but it will remain otherwise naked until Friday night when we can all get together to decorate.

Christmas is coming so soon and I am enjoying all the festivities. Now if I could just find time to also finish my school work before the course deadline (Dec.21) I would be ecstatic!

(by the way I have pictures for all of these events but my camera is at home and I am at work so I will post them tomorrow)

Between a Small Plum and a Large Lime

We are between week 10 and 11 in the pregnancy right now. This means our baby is between the size of a small plum (week ten) and a large lime (week eleven). It weighs about 5-8 grams.
Tuesday we had our second doctor's appointment and we got to hear the heartbeat. I consider us to be very lucky because we knew that hearing the heartbeat around 10 weeks is often hard to do since the baby is still small and moving around a lot.
It was so exciting and Rawley got to be there for it. He was unsure at first which noise it was, but it was still very special. Yay!

I Love Free Stuff

Melon Scratcher of the Day (Country 107.1):

The average one of these is 5'9" and 218 lbs.
???
Santa Claus's

This morning I called into the radio station with that answer and won $75 gift certificate to Giesbrecht Tree Farm. I was ecstatic!!! Even Steve, the announcer, poked fun at me a bit for being so happy about a tree.

The thing is I was totally stressing about how we were going to pay for the Christmas tree this weekend. We are putting one up at my dad's house instead of ours and he has 9 foot ceilings. We wanted to get a nice big tree for our last Christmas on the west coast, but a nice big tree means nice big bucks to spend. The later is something we don't have a whole lot of these days. So , I am very very very delighted that we have this gift certificate now.

Country 107.1 has been good to us lately. We are both devoted listeners (Ryan sometimes because he does not have a choice) and country club members so we enter for all kinda of draws and I call in for the melon scratcher regularly. If you win you have to wait 30 days to try again and it has been just over that since I won Rascal Flatts tickets. Then the week before last Ryan won tickets to the Abbotsford Heat. Those of you who are not country club members should think about it. Free dates and free Christmas trees....'nough said.

Anyway. Yay for free stuff!!!!!

Multiple Sclerosis.

I am not one to typically watch W5. I barely have time to catch a few minutes of the news here and there. However, on the weekend while catching my few minutes they briefly talked about a doctor in Italy that has found out new information about MS. They mentioned that W5 would follow with the full story.

My dad has MS. He was diagnosed the year before I was born which means he has been suffering for 27 years now. He has been on disability for more than 10 years and suffers from a lot of pain and demobilization. Granted there are people with MS far worse off than my dad it still pains me to see him live this way.

A close family friend also suffers from MS. Bonnie was one of my dad's friends growing up and ended up being the best female role model in my life. I spent many of my teenage years with her and am a better person for it. Bonnie has been in a wheelchair since before I met her 15 years ago. When I first met her she could walk at night, cook, clean, dress herself. Now all she can do is move a couple fingers on her right hand. She lives in a home and cannot take care of herself at all. She is a wonderful loving, outgoing, intelligent person who cannot do anything but lay in bed unless someone helps her.

Any new information about MS is interesting to me as it may mean a better life for my dad and Bonnie. I tried to watch as much of the show as I could. This proved to be hard as it was bath time and getting ready for bed time. During this time of the day with Rawley it is hard to sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time. I did see enough to know that this sounds promising. I was also able to read up on it here: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091120/W5_liberation_091121/20091121?s_name=W5
and here:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091123/ms_folo_091123/20091123?s_name=W5

Turns out MS could actually be a vascular disease that can be treated with simple surgical procedures to open up blocked veins. This procedure is called the 'Liberation Treatment'. Dr. Zamboni has conducted research and found that most MS patients have narrowing, twisting or complete blockage of the veins that drain blood from the brain.

The vain disorder that he calls 'Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) is what sets in motion the neurological symptoms of MS. The blood of MS patients is flowing back upwards to the brain, which Dr. Zamboni says sets off a number of reactions, including MS symptoms. The blood that is forced to stay in the brain is high in Iron which can eventually kill brain cells.

After watching the show I called my dad (who also watched it) to talk about what they have found. He thinks it makes a lot of sense. One symptom of MS that doctors have not been able to give reason for is immense pressure in the brain. My dad as well as a few of his close childhood friend have MS and they have the same complaint. They say that there is so much pressure in their brain some days that they don't want to go on. Doctor have never been able to tell my dad why this happens. He says that knowing that the blood is not properly draining from his head make sense.

With the Liberation Treatment they insert a tiny balloon into these blocked veins to open them up and allow the blood to flow out of the brain. A small study was done where 65 patients had the Liberation procedure.

50% of those patients were relapse-free for 18 months
while only 27% of those who did not have the surgery went relapse-free

Only 12% of those who had the surgery had brain lesions (sign of active disease)
but 50% of those who did not had brain lesions.

This to me is something we should be looking into.

There are already 6 approved drug therapies in Canada that help reduce the burden of MS symptoms. This is great but imagine having a simple surgery once in your life and be cured. The thing that scares me is that the drug companies have so much power. I feel they would rather have sick people on drugs than people that are healthy. It means money to them. I hope that Canada will use their funds wisely to do research on this and hopefully someday my dad, Bonnie and all the other MS sufferers will be cured or at least more comfortable.