update on dirt... (updated)

Dirt is ok, her surgery only took 12 minutes and they got great margins. We will not know the pathology for a week and in the meantime I had to go grab a onesie from storage so she won't lick or scratch her stitches. She has 5 stitches by the way, she gets them out next Wednesday.

She lost her nipple but she is really doing well and was very feisty this morning.

Both dogs are also doing great with the booties and with running out to potty in the snow now.

I am in hell with house hunting still and really not writing much and feeling pressured to find something. It will work out but I may not be as expressive as usual for a bit.

UPDATE: BTW the onesie was the vet's suggestion and it works brilliantly. Funny tidbit though, I grabbed the smallest one I own, and it is one that never even fit Bliss at birth because he was so big (10lb 1oz).

more stuff...

I almost forgot. Potato chips, same brand even.....it is soo strange. I do not eat them often but especially pregnant, even though I like salty while pregnant, because they always repeat on me. They have an after taste and a repeating thing.

In Canada.....they have never done either, at all. Even roomie mentioned how different they are. More potato taste and natural seeming. SO strange.

Also I have lost 4 pounds since we left the US, that is back in the negative numbers for the entire pregnancy. So weird but all is ok.

We got the storage redistributed today. The amount of stuff more we saw broken was just beyond comprehension. A vacuum cleaner literally broken in half, a cast iron bench with the iron legs broken, a tower heater with the entire casing shattered. Every corner shelf from the organizer closet unit broken (that's 5 shelves), our Ikea shelving units with shattered cubby shelves and bins. Our Rubbermaid bins broken in pieces with entire tops off and shattered.

It is sooo shocking. We are still trying to file our complaint with the company but they seem to never return calls.

I did get to some needed things though and now my printer is hooked up as is Bliss' computer so homeschooling can resume. I also got some TVs so roomie and I can relax watching when needed. I also finally organized the stuff in Bliss and my room and put stuff away so we got a lot done today and we feel much more normal.

Tomorrow we are looking at more property but it is far away so it will be a long driving day. Then a day to pamper Dirt before her surgery.

news on dirt...

I just got the call from the Vet. They found epithelial neoplasia cells in the slides from Dirt's lump.They can be adenoma (benign tumor in origin) or adenocarcenoma (malignant) but in cases of these findings they always recommend immediate lumpectomies. When I had thyroid cancer I had papillary and adenocarcenoma. The latter is a fast growing kind and with how fast this lump appeared under her nipple I fear it may likely be that.

The vets feel it was caught extremely early and we will have the mass sent out to get 100% confirmation of exactly what is in it but it all makes me sad. She is my baby, she has been through so much with me. She feels fine this is way to early to cause any physical ailments but it still makes me weep.

Surgery is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday. We are lucky in that the vet hospital is near.

tidbits...

Thanks for all the supportive comments.

I am still trying to sort out the storage situation and condition of much stuff.

We went looking at places yesterday, nothing yet but a possible possibility. We are seeing another place Monday and some others next week. I am trying not to get overwhelmed. My head has been a bit noisy lately but I am trying to shut it up and remain calm.

I am apparently becoming a cliche with the throwing up in the morning now and needing dill pickles to feel even remotely not queasy.

I have apparently stopped biting my nails, which is VERY strange. I have always bitten them. What is most strange to me is since I went off the pre-natal vitamin my nails are suddenly thicker than they have ever been and strong.

WHY? How is that possible?? The logical scientist mind in me is stumped and confused. I though third trimester is when the baby sucks the most calcium from me. Plus I am not eating much dairy. I have actually worried about my calcium intake (doc said stopping pre-natal was ok with the vomiting thing) and now I have strong thick, growing nails????

Some differences I have noticed here. Special K is not like in the states at all, it is like rice krispies more so.

Corn Pops are VERY different (not that I would eat them now) but I always liked them as a kid and here they are round and hard seeming. Bliss and roomie still like them, roomie says they are like when she was a kid.

It is hard to find sourdough bread, especially any SF sourdough.

Fast food is sooo much better made here it is shocking, soooo much less additive crap.

So nice not to have corn syrup in everything and be able to buy CS free bread easily.

At the store meats are sold by weight per Kg but specials are written on the little signs as weight per Lb. Gets confusing.

Milk is expensive. (another reason we need a cow)

Tortilla's are strange but we were in California which was heaven for good ones.

Great veggies and fruit and really reasonable prices which has shocked me.

Lots of snow, still barely wearing a jacket and loving it. Yesterday I got to drive an hour in a blizzard.

Baby moving a lot which makes me happy. Have taken 2 naps in the last week which were needed. I am finally to that must rest stage.

That's all for now.

beyond my current coping skills...

So I finally got to the storage place today to check on the stuff and see about grabbing a couple of things.
They only got it all there on Sunday.
My stuff is crammed into 3 16 foot units even though I asked for a 24 and was told he would likely use a 32 foot unit. I would rather have paid for a 24 AND a 32 and been able to see anything.
I cannot get to anything.
All the stuff that was so carefully packed so I could get to it upon arrival is lost to me.
All baby newborn necessity stuff is unreachable.
On top of all of this my stuff, our stuff, is trashed. There is a rip in my couch chair, the carpet cleaner is broken, the little ride on train for the baby is in pieces.
I am beyond devastated.
I of course call the second movers to register my alarm and complaint to see about filing a claim.
What am I told??
I am told that it was likely customs searching stuff that did it.
This is total bullshit, I know this but that is what they are saying.
And of course I have to handle ALL of this, me, the pregnant one, because I always do.
But right now I do not want to.
I am angry and pissed and upset and want to scream.
I see boxes back in the units, marked all over with huge FRAGILE letter half caved in on sides.
Until it is all unpacked I will not even know the extent of the damage.
I paid sooooooooooo fucking much money to have this all moved and I paid as much to the asshat second movers to move 700 miles as I did to the first to get it from California to Quebec City.
This is ALL the problem of the second movers.
I am gutted.

tired...

We are here. In Nova Scotia. In the rental.
We got here Thursday afternoon.
I now have internet.
We are exhausted. Two weeks on the road has done me in pretty much.
The weather has been rain and snow prior to our arrival, rain the day we drove in so there is a LOT of ice.
I have taken one bad fall, on my butt, and have the scrape and bruise to prove it.
Roomie has taken two spills.
There was no salt or sand in town until yesterday which was frustrating.
I got show spikes finally and sand finally.
Happy Valentine's Day to all.
Mama dog, the lil one in the movie named Dirt has a sudden lump under one nipple I need to get checked ASAP.
I am ok but really really tires and sore and just ugh.
I am trying to recoup this weekend and then start the house search next week.
Things will likely be pretty sparse for a time here.
Baby seems fine, moving around daily.
I will be getting a doc or midwife soon.
I have 250 feeds to read in my RSS feed reader. I will try to get to them but who knows.
Love to all.

trying something new...

The girls trying snow booties for the first time on snow covered ground.
Roomie is briefly in movie, excuse my awful voice.

oh canada...

We made it to Canada. We stayed in Michigan last night and came across the border today.

The immigration part took like 2 minutes. The customs part took almost and hour and a half but it was mainly because I do not have an address here yet and the place we are renting short term I do not have the address of yet and the phone number I did not have but on email.

I finally got the number and left a message and then they, THANKFULLY, called back quick and all was good.

Next was the fact that we bought our van at such a good price and their value book showed it was more and then one of the agents was telling me we had to have it over 6 months or take a huge hit. But I had called about this prior along with everything else regarding the car so the woman helping us went to check and beyond the import fee ($240) we owed not one other cent. WAHOOOO!!!

So we are just outside Toronto and exhausted. The shippers have been delayed so we will be taking our sweet time to get to Quebec city and will likely not be to Nova Scotia until the middle of next week.

We are all beyond tired of being in the car. The poor dogs are dealing with trying to sniff a place to poop in the snow along with one getting car sick today in the Toronto traffic. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

More soon.

com-plain-ing...

OK this is the corniest title ever. I am in the plains in Nebraska tonight. We are fine, just tired and I am cranky. We limited today's driving to under 5 hours only to run into Central Standard Time and have the clock jump ahead a fucking hour so it never felt like we got to relax more.

ugh

We have been having bad fast food karma as in we stop at an Arby's so I can get a sandwich that is somewhat healthy with some non-sweetened iced tea and they take over 35 minutes to get our food for us and then they mess up Bliss' order. Then we stop at a place for roomie the next day since I had half a sandwich left and that place, with no one there even takes 20 minutes to get her plain cheeseburger for her.

I am eating pretty well but am not hungry much. This morning I dry heaved for a long time again which is just so old.

Bliss is doing well, I get on his case at times, but truly it is 99% my own crap as usual. We went swimming tonight at this hotel and it was nice, just the 2 of us in the pool. Right now he is playing with my foot as I type and he is SUPPOSED to be asleep but I am not getting on him. This is such a hard thing, this driving across the entire continent.

I am limiting driving to 5 hours actual drive time because with stops it is always 7 and we have to do no more than that, it is too hard. I have been able to not drive twice and take short naps but once awake again I start getting woozy not driving so I get back in front. I am sore but ok.

It seems no matter what we planned with regards to driving we would hit Quebec City too late to clear the moving truck until the following Monday which had helped me in deciding on the less hours driving rule. So this trip is taking far longer than expected. We will not be in Nova Scotia until around thew 10th or 11th but I have had to let go and just go with it


The baby seemed not to move yesterday and last night I got out the doppler (thanks AGAIN Rose) and got scared for a few but then found it. I swear if this child makes it through the teenage years without me ranting about all I went through while pregnant it will truly be a miracle.

The dogs are ok but after packing the van so carefully and having the entire back bench seat for them, they are spending all their time on the floor at our feet all squished. It is rough on them (and YES I considered saying "ruff" on them but didn't so there).

The weather thus far has been clear and sunny and barely any snow even on the ground. We have been lucky even though Bliss is dying for snow so much that he is making parking lot snow balls and trying to eat them (I quickly halted him on that). The static electricity has been making him and the dogs nuts so I have taken to spraying them all with my no static mix at every opportunity.

So that is all for now. I need to go get the clothes out of the hotel dryer and try to get to sleep. I miss my memory foam bed a TON!!!

.