Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hi again

OK, so it's been a long time. Sometimes I feel really inspired to write often and I have lots to say, and other times it can take me weeks to come up with anything interesting to put down. I'm not sure that I have anything interesting to say right now, but I feel obligated to post something, otherwise what's the point of having a blog if I only post once a month.

Last week my friend & neighbour Faith left for the mainland for three weeks and since then I've been kinda floundering. Paul & I are having a lot more "alone" time together. Not that it's bad. Maybe it's time we reconnected without the distraction of his girlfriend, Isla, around. So yesterday we went to Playgroup. Mom's & kids hangin out at the rickety play structure at the Grand Anse campus. But hey, the kids don't really know what they're missing (at least mine has never been to a giant North American play structure), and the mom's get to chat.

After a little bit in the swing we went over to Paul's daycare for sing-a-longs. Miss Beth comes on Tues & Thurs and plays the guitar and we sing kiddie songs. Good for me to learn too cause I don't know very many and just usually end up making songs up to sing to Paul (or usually I'll have the melody right but make up words).

I tried to picture a role reversal yesterday as if I was the one in med school and Chris was the stay at home parent (and there are men here who are). Up at 6am, Playgroup, sing-a-long, washing diapers, making home-made baby food...I couldn't picture it. I don't think Chris could either, so it's just as well things are the way they are.

The good thing about Chris knowing that he couldn't/wouldn't handle the stay-at-home parent thing well, is that he encourages me to get all the help I need to make my life easier. I can go out at night once P's in bed to movies or trivia & he'll stay at home studying or he's fine with me having a cleaning lady & P in daycare a few afternoons a week.

SHIT! I've done it again! I got distracted while making baby food and burnt it to the bottom of the pot. That's the second batch I've ruined this week, and if you think dates are cheap here, THEY'RE NOT! I had to throw out the last pot, I wonder if this one is salvagable? Booooooooo!


Monday, March 2, 2009

Crazy Day

Today I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I had to pick up my cleaning lady at 8am (I know, poor me), I dropped Chris off at school, had coffee with my mom, drove her to yoga, got gas, came home for Paul to have a 40 min. nap, dropped my cleaning lady off, came back and picked up Paul, went and picked up my mom from yoga, stopped at Mount Cinnamon so she could check lost and found, dropped her off at her hotel, went grocery shopping at IGA, dropped Paul off at daycare, went back to the mall to pay bills but the line-up was too long so I got a mocha chiller instead :), came home and washed Stan, took Stan to the vet, picked up Paul, and now we are HOME! I am contemplating going for a walk with Faith, but I'm somewhat pooped. We'll see what happens.

Two of the above events are worth special mention:

1. The cleaning lady came to my house and worked for about 1.2 hrs for 70EC. I am somewhat uncomfortable about that. Our cleaning lady back home would work for about 5 hrs. Now I know that my cleaning lady said to me "when I clean, I go fast and work hard." but I'm sorry, I feel a little bit gyped. Maybe "the obvious" isn't so obvious to everyone. I'm too nice. Next time I need a list. Something like "sweep porch, wash out fridge, scrub giant tile shower." Do you think that I should have like a minimum amount of time that she has to be here? The last time I did that with a cleaning lady, I came home and she was watching tv. Maybe cause I live in this house I can see no end of things that need to be cleaned. "Wash gunk of stove top, wipe off green splatters from kitchen cabinets that is left from the last renters, wash all the dead mosquitoes off the walls (that's a really good one!)." I'll have to practice being assertive in the mirror before she comes back.

2. There is a very difficult woman who mans the front dest at the vet clinic. My dog has no end of ailments at any given time, one of which is that he has a very sensitive stomach. In order to be allowed to purchase the high quality vet food (which is better for my dog and less expensive than the crap food at IGA), you have to have a perscription. Every time I go into the clinic to pick up more food for Stan, the woman behind the desk has to make sure that the vet said I could have it (even though it's already in the computer). She's doling out the precious dog food with an iron fist. Even though I saw the vet three weeks ago, last week when I went to pick up more food, the front desk lady wouldn't let me because Stan's check-up wasn't recent enough or some horse-shit. I had to make ANOTHER appt. for today, and while I was sitting in the waiting room my vet came by and said "what's Stan doing here?" and I said "I guess we have to see you to get more dog food." She rolled her eyes and allowed me to bypass the whole appt. and just gave us more food. My friend Faith, almost had to have an argument with the woman to be allowed to have a 20lb bag instead of a 10lb bag which would barely last a week. This is the ridiculousness about being able to buy dog food on this island. I hope Stan & Lena appreciate the effort we go through to ensure them a well-rounded, nutricious diet :)