Back In Vancouver

With the move back to Vancouver from Edmonton, my blog got pushed aside and forgotten, and though I've been meaning to come back to it I've been feeling rather lazy. I've been suffering from insomnia for the past few nights though and TV at 2:30 in the morning is pretty crap so here I finally am.

Back tracking many months, the move went pretty well and we (the guinea pigs included) all survived the ride back. Two months before the move, Eric and I flew to Vancouver for Steve and Cara's wedding. We were both in the wedding party and we had a really great time. The trip also gave us a chance to find a place to move back to. We were so rushed though with wedding plans, and trying to get in as much visiting with friends and family, that we basically took the first decent place we saw, and we only saw it through the window as the owner was unable to drive out from UBC area to show it too us. Eric's parent kindly went to see it for us while we were back in Edmonton to make sure it was actually a decent place to live.

Then just before we left we had a really nice visit from Erik Begg on his way to his new home in Ontario, and my sister and her husband came up for one last visit. They dragged me kicking and screaming to the water park and I was surprised at how much fun we had. We also took in a few shows at the fringe festival including one hilarious spoof on boy bands called "Boy Groove" (If you ever get a chance to go I highly recommend it).

We left our little white Firefly in Edmonton so Eric and I both rode back in the U-haul. It was a bit cramped with the guinea pigs in there as well but we all made it safe and sound. When we got back we acquired Firefly #3, this time in blue. It's already cost us a quite a lot as the whole brake system needed replacing and we are hoping to purchase a NEW car within the next year.

When we got back to BC, Eric and I both started working right away at our old jobs. I was really frustrated at first as I only agreed to return on the condition that I wouldn't have to work Saturdays and right away Saturdays were dumped on me until they could higher someone to cover them. Once we had someone trained though I moved into 10 hour days M-Th giving me F-Sun off every week. I also got a decent raise and after working a very low paid job in Edmonton it was nice to see some decent sized paycheques for a change. The newly trained Saturday girl quit recently though and since none of us want to work Saturdays we are on 4 week rotations through all the shifts. It's a bit annoying but better than having Saturdays dumped soley on me again.

My job resulted in a new addition to our family when the SPCA brought in a scrawny little guinea pig named Panda whose owners had severely neglected and then surrendered her. I took one look at her scraggly little face and I knew I had to give her a good home. Eric was not so thrilled to have another pig in the house but she quickly became his favorite. Because of her neglect she was ridiculously skinny, her front feet were deformed, and she had a severe case of mites which left her with a skin infection and very little hair. After antibiotics and mite treatment, as well as several months to recover, she finally looks like a normal guinea pig again. Her front feet will be permanently deformed but as long as we keep her nails trimmed they don't seem to bother her.

Speaking of pets, Ravi and Andrea kindly took our fish tank off our hands while we were gone, but they recently moved up to Fort St. Johns so Ravi could start up an office there, so the fish tank has returned to us. I didn't really miss it while it was gone so I was really surprised at how excited I was to have it back, especially when one of the dalmation mollies had babies. The excitement though has turned to sadness and utter frustration as all of our fish are dying from ich despite my best efforts to treat them. There are no ich spots left on the remaining fish so I have my fingers crossed it's gone and that we can get a few more fish in a few weeks.

It's been really great being back though we do miss the people we met while we were in Edmonton as well as our apartment and neighborhood. We had a pretty good year there and I'm really glad we went. I also really miss being so close to my sister. We weren't in the same city or anything but Calgary was just a 3 hour drive away and I got to see her at least once a month which was a nice change from the once or twice a year I normally get to see her. I'm really excited as she's planned a roller coaster week-end for the May long week-end. The plan is to hit 4 theme parks in 4 days. Sadly Eric is too busy to join us but it should still be a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. I can finally give her her Christmas present.

Eric and I are also hoping to get out to Calgary this summer for stampede. We never got a chance to see Drumheller while we lived in Alberta so we're hoping to get out there as well as maybe a trip up to Edmonton to visit our friends there.

Since we've been back I've had a bit of a tough time adjusting as things here are so different since we moved away. Pretty much everyone is pregnant but me and it took a bit of getting used to. I'm really happy for my friends and I know they are really excited and want to talk about their experiences, but not being pregnant myself and with no plans to become so anytime soon, there's only so much talk of pregnancy and babies that I can handle at one time. I mean for the most part I don't mind too much but those conversations make me feel the pressure a little.

I've joined weight watchers again as I've put back most of the weight I lost a few years ago and I've lost about 16 pounds so far. I'm really struggling with it this time though (can't seem to get past the 16lb mark) and I have not been losing nearly as easily or as quickly as last time. Allison just signed up as well so hopefully that will help me a little as I have someone to struggle along with now. I used to go for just the weigh-in and skip a lot of the meetings but now that Allison is there I have more of an interest to stay.

Well it's getting pretty late and I should probably go back to bed and see if I can fall asleep now. I have to be up early tomorrow to drive out to Chilliwack. We're having Easter dinner with my family there tomorrow night and then Sunday we'll come back and have dinner with Eric's family. I'm going to both armed with low fat snacks and drinks as I'm determined to see a loss on the scales next week despite the large amount of food and abundance of Easter treats that I know will be there.