a hippie with a minivan

What a great feeling…

Last night… I treated myself to an hour of luxury… a full body massage.

What an amazing feeling…

The massage therapist that I called lives 5 houses away and I kept on thinking about calling whenever I saw her sign on the front of her house. I went after supper so Simon did the evening routine and the boys didn’t really notice that I was gone much… Khéna was sleeping on Simon’s lap when I got back home.

I am very happy that I called there… she is really professional and nice… and the space is so relaxing and calm. We decided together that she would do a mix of therapeutic massage and relaxation… she released a lot of tension that I had in my back, shoulders and my left arm… and when I got back home and went to bed I slept so well….

It is something that I will definalely try to do again… and soon…

Camera troubles…

We have had our Canon G6 for 3 years now… everything was going fine until I put my card in the card reader yesterday… put it back in the camera and found that the card reader had messed up the card and then messed up the camera.

So now… all I get when I put a card into the camera is “Memory Card Error”… (*eta: I have three cards that I have tested it with that work in our old camera)

I called quite a few places and no one wants to give estimates over the phone… and if I bring the camera in it cost anywhere from 30-45$ for an estimate…
Our other option is to send the camera to Canon, have them look it over and then call us with the estimate. There is no change but there is a longer wait time..

I have been drooling over a dSLR or a long time so I started looking into that option… Getting a dSLR and having my G6 would mean that I could have a camera for quality pics and another for portability and video option…
Now that I am not sure if the price of repair is worth it, I decided to think more about what I would get as a new camera…

After searching a bit I realized that the new G9 is out… It is 2 models higher than the G6 that I really do love… so the more I looked at it the more I started to like it…

Then I started looking at the price.. all the Canadian sites I found had it listed at and around 599$… The US sites had it at 499$…. with the Canadian dollar above parity now that is just a ripoff… pure and simple, there is no good explanation for it…

I searched around some more and found it on Amazon.com for 449$ but they won’t ship to Canada… So I am getting it sent to a friend and then she can send it to me….

I would love to buy Canadian but a more that 150$ difference for the same camera is just too much…

Now we wait… and I am sad cause I can’t take any pictures for the time being… but soon I will have a new toy…

Happy Thanksgiving!

To our fellow Canadians of course…

Thanksgiving really marks the beginning of Autumn for me and I love Autumn.

The colours are changing, the air is cool and the leaves are starting to fall and it all just makes me feel homey. I feel like cooking hearty slow cooked meals, I feel like sitting outside with a warm cup of tea and watching the kids play in the leaves.

Last Friday we went to “La Courgerie” A pumpkin, squash and gourd farm with the local homeschooling group.

We took the Ferry and then it was a 15 min ride there. 4$ each gave us a tour of the farm and learning about the types of gourds and squash. A taste of products that they make there on the farm and the owner also showed us the some instuments made in africa that are made from gourds which all the kids got to hold and we all made music at the same time. We also went a picked pumpkins and then had a tractor ride around the farm.

Tonight we are eating the Traditional Thanksgiving supper…

Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, maple glazed carrots, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing and Pumpkin pie for dessert… Xavier is really looking forward to it all and has even made a centre piece with somethings that we found at the farm… including this one…

new appointment…

After venting a bit on my favourite message board someone gave me an idea…

Call back the hospital and get onto the cancellation list.

The secretary asked me a few questions and though I had said it all yesterday it seemed to register a bit more today and after realizing that he was pretty much EBF, that it was most likely something that he had just had contact with and not had eaten etc.. she said that she would talk to the doctor to see what he thought and then she would call me back in the afternoon…

so I waited…

She called back and said that the doctor would like us to come in sooner and that they could give us an appointment for Nov 8th… of this year….

So… I feel a bit better… Just a few weeks and we will be able to maybe start knowing what he is and hopefully isn’t allergic to…

My Day…

So this morning the Hives were a bit better but were still there and were on his limbs and face and I decided to go have it checked out… not for the hives of course, because really, there is not much to do for them, but I would like to know what he is allergic to officially.

So I called our family doc in Montreal and I was told that we could have an appointment in 2 weeks… I took it grudgingly and then opened the phone book…

Our city has 4 peds, I have met three of them. I HATE three of them and do not trust them at all…

I called the fourth… In the past he was not been taking new patients… I think the way that I called and asked made all of the difference though. I asked her if I could take an appt with the ped for my son… she said that she had a place at 10am (it was 9:15)… I said that we had never been there before and though she was a bit taken back she just asked a few questions including how many kids I have, why I wanted to go in and how old the babe was… then told me to come in…

She asked me if I knew where it was and I told her that I didn’t so she gave me the directions and then finished my saying “just park on the street and you will see the door next to the Garage and go to the second floor”

I got the kids ready and headed out the door… to my surprise the doctor is practising out of his home… just that helped put me at ease…

The secretary weighed and measured Khéna and then we waited just a few minutes and we were the first in… (well… we were the only ones there)

He asked a few questions and didn’t even flinch when I told him that I had a UC, he didn’t ask about vaxes, he praised that I was nursing, he didn’t see any problems in delaying solids and even suggested that we delay longer until we figure out the allergies…

Surprisingly he was able to do a milk allergy test in the office.

He tested negative to a Milk allergy.

I tried to wrack my brain a bit and then thought… peanut…

The boys eat peanut butter and often don’t wash their hands before touching things after eating… Khéna can also reach onto the table and he might have touched something there…

The Ped thought that it is quite possible and said that we should get an allergy test done at Montreal Children’s… as well he would like us to see an endocrinologist.

So… I get home and I call the Hospital… leave a message at the endo clinic and get in touch with the Allergy clinic… the next available appt. Is for Nov 6^th…. 2008

I can’t believe it… 13 months wait…

I called a private clinic and we could get an appt this week… and they would even come to our home… it would be 300$ though and even our private insurance wouldn’t cover it…

I called the doctor back and talked to the secretary to see what he thinks we should do… they are supposed to call me tomorrow…

I am not too sure what the next step is for now…