So Andre and I have decided to say farewell to hormonal birth control. Partially with the intention that will help with my (extremely) low libido, and so we will know what my cycles will be like after years on the birth control pill. Only a handful of people know about our decision (and well of course, now all of my readers!). We will not be telling our parents because they will just get their hopes up for no reason.
We still aren't ready for children right now, so we will still be using other forms of birth control, but for now we will bid farewell to the pill.
I had my yearly physical (oh yeah!) on Friday so I discussed our choice with my doctor and she was supportive our choice and sent me for some blood work to check on my immunity to Rubella so if I do not have an immunity I can have that taken care of in advance of us trying to get pregnant.
Andre and I have been talking about this for awhile now, to make sure that this was a decision that we were both ready for, but for some reason telling my doctor made it seem so much more real. It wasn't just a conversation topic at home, it was real, we were really going to do this. For so many years the main purpose of my yearly physical was just to get a refill on my prescription for the pill.
Now every month I will get to know my body again. It will learn to think and function without the help of artificial hormones. I'm not looking forward to the cramping, the irritability and the acne (especially not the acne!) but I am looking forward to getting to know my body again. I'm sure there will be many exciting posts about how things are going (or not going) over the next few months.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Little Miss Suzie Homemaker
That is who I feel like today. Here I am blogging about my domestic exploits today with my apron still tied around my waist.
I already have turkey broth made from our delicious turkey that we had for Thanksgiving dinner last night cooling in the fridge, and dinner simmering in the slow cooker. Yummy salsa chicken! We were going to have some ribs in the slow cooker today to get away from the poultry but I wasn't chanelling my inner domestic diva last night and as a result the ribs are still frozen solid in the freezer. Ooops.
Everytime I make something for dinner, I think of my great-grandmother. Before she passed, (She passed away 8 years ago when I was 21) she sat me down one day and asked me if I knew how to cook. At that point she was bed ridden as a result of her lung cancer. I told her of course I knew how to cook. Then she got this frustrated look on her face and said that she knew that I could bake, but could I cook dinner for my husband one day?
I probably rolled my eyes and said that she didn't have to worry, my future husband would not starve. I think her and Andre would've got along. She loved to cook, and he loves to eat! I don't know why but I've been thinking about her a lot lately. She's just been on my mind for some reason.
I already have turkey broth made from our delicious turkey that we had for Thanksgiving dinner last night cooling in the fridge, and dinner simmering in the slow cooker. Yummy salsa chicken! We were going to have some ribs in the slow cooker today to get away from the poultry but I wasn't chanelling my inner domestic diva last night and as a result the ribs are still frozen solid in the freezer. Ooops.
Everytime I make something for dinner, I think of my great-grandmother. Before she passed, (She passed away 8 years ago when I was 21) she sat me down one day and asked me if I knew how to cook. At that point she was bed ridden as a result of her lung cancer. I told her of course I knew how to cook. Then she got this frustrated look on her face and said that she knew that I could bake, but could I cook dinner for my husband one day?
I probably rolled my eyes and said that she didn't have to worry, my future husband would not starve. I think her and Andre would've got along. She loved to cook, and he loves to eat! I don't know why but I've been thinking about her a lot lately. She's just been on my mind for some reason.
"In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot, and a mom."
~Barbara Costikyan
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Our day of shopping
Since everyone (or at least my one loyal reader :o) is waiting to hear how shopping went I decided I would procrastinate making dinner and post instead!
I have to say that the day went 100 times better than I thought it would. I really had no idea what to expect, but expected the worst if that at all makes sense.
She gave me a huge hug when we first met up which was nice since we hadn't really seen each other for so long aside from the accidental meeting at Kelsey's. We actually talked a bit after lunch about how awkward it was when we met up on the Saturday. They are usually visiting his parents on Saturday evenings, and I think it was just weird to see them out at a restaurant, especially since Pam and I had already made plans to meet up on Monday.
We were able to talk about a lot of things that have been going on, some drama that has been going on with her family, what they've been up to, how her husband hasn't been home very much being he's a Mutual Fund Accountant for an American company in Toronto, and it's been busy with the stock market crashing almost daily.
Then we talked about her Post Partum Depression. It's bad, not like she has a hard time getting out of bed, bad, but like she's thought about ending her own life sort of bad. She would never harm the baby in any way, but her depression is at a level it hasn't been in years. She's visiting her psychiatrist every week, and they have increased her medication, but I still worry about her especially since her husband is never home. Thankfully she lives very close to her grandmother whom she visits daily, and her mother who has helped her a lot with the baby.
She is also suffering from a very high level of anxiety which they are treating her for which she has never suffered from. It was a little strange seeing her so compulsive about checking the baby in her stroller. Abbey would be sleeping in the stroller and she would be checking her every few minutes.
I even got her to visit the Early Years Centre at the mall too which I was happy about. I'm hoping now that she's familiar with it she won't be so uneasy about going to the mall alone if she wanted to walk with Abbey but the weather outside wasn't good. They also have a ton of workshops, and groups that they run at different locations in the city, so I'm hoping she'll get out more and meet some other moms once she's feeling better. I think that would be good for her especially since I'm so busy with work during the week.
I don't know how often we'll be able to get together now with work being busier and me not having an abundance of spare time during the work week, but I told her that at the very least I have the first Monday of every month off, so we can at least do something then. Only time will tell how things will work out, but if this day was any indicator, it will be okay, different then before, but okay.
I have to say that the day went 100 times better than I thought it would. I really had no idea what to expect, but expected the worst if that at all makes sense.
She gave me a huge hug when we first met up which was nice since we hadn't really seen each other for so long aside from the accidental meeting at Kelsey's. We actually talked a bit after lunch about how awkward it was when we met up on the Saturday. They are usually visiting his parents on Saturday evenings, and I think it was just weird to see them out at a restaurant, especially since Pam and I had already made plans to meet up on Monday.
We were able to talk about a lot of things that have been going on, some drama that has been going on with her family, what they've been up to, how her husband hasn't been home very much being he's a Mutual Fund Accountant for an American company in Toronto, and it's been busy with the stock market crashing almost daily.
Then we talked about her Post Partum Depression. It's bad, not like she has a hard time getting out of bed, bad, but like she's thought about ending her own life sort of bad. She would never harm the baby in any way, but her depression is at a level it hasn't been in years. She's visiting her psychiatrist every week, and they have increased her medication, but I still worry about her especially since her husband is never home. Thankfully she lives very close to her grandmother whom she visits daily, and her mother who has helped her a lot with the baby.
She is also suffering from a very high level of anxiety which they are treating her for which she has never suffered from. It was a little strange seeing her so compulsive about checking the baby in her stroller. Abbey would be sleeping in the stroller and she would be checking her every few minutes.
I even got her to visit the Early Years Centre at the mall too which I was happy about. I'm hoping now that she's familiar with it she won't be so uneasy about going to the mall alone if she wanted to walk with Abbey but the weather outside wasn't good. They also have a ton of workshops, and groups that they run at different locations in the city, so I'm hoping she'll get out more and meet some other moms once she's feeling better. I think that would be good for her especially since I'm so busy with work during the week.
I don't know how often we'll be able to get together now with work being busier and me not having an abundance of spare time during the work week, but I told her that at the very least I have the first Monday of every month off, so we can at least do something then. Only time will tell how things will work out, but if this day was any indicator, it will be okay, different then before, but okay.
Work Frustration
Back-story: I am kind of like and independent contractor in a medical office. I rent out the space, but am not considered an "employee" there. I am also the sounding board for most of the people there. Aside from one part-time male doctor there, we're all women and all friends. Not to say that there aren't any problems, but for the most part it's pretty good.
Now, lately a lot of the girls in the office have had issues with the office manager. She has a habit of being very judgemental, dishonest, and a hypocrite. For example, she will talk to one of the girls about how they are sharing too much of their person life with one of the patients, but then the next day she will be going on and on about her boyfriend and their relationship with a patient (even if the patient is clearly not interested). Everyone (myself included) as noticed this particular situation occur one too many times, and it's not professional.
Now this office manager and one of the associates have had some run-ins lately. Mostly regarding scheduling issues. Just this Friday the associate had noticed a blank spot in her schedule and knew that with the patient load that she had earlier that day she would be behind and added a buffer. She went into her treatment room and came out a short time later to find a patient had been added where she had placed the buffer.
She questioned the OM about this and she stared right at her and told her "there was no buffer there". She lied right to her face. I was preparing to leave for the day and witnessed the whole thing. The assoc. told her that there was a buffer right there and she was sure of it because she added it herself. Then the OM started to back peddle and ramble about the person being in pain, and needing to come in, blah, blah, blah. What about the people that were in pain on the cancellation list that were waiting to come in? Apparently their pain didn't matter.
The assoc. was LIVID, but couldn't do much at the time since the OM's parents were sitting right in the waiting room at the time this all happened. She's not so angry about putting someone in when a buffer was there (it sadly happens all the time, and as a result she often will be running a half hour late by the end of the day). She is angry because the OM just lied right to her face, and didn't even apologize.
The OM sometimes will come to me for opinions on things as well, and it's getting harder and harder to be supportive when she is just blatantly abusing her power.
It will be interesting to see how things will unfold at work this week.
Now, lately a lot of the girls in the office have had issues with the office manager. She has a habit of being very judgemental, dishonest, and a hypocrite. For example, she will talk to one of the girls about how they are sharing too much of their person life with one of the patients, but then the next day she will be going on and on about her boyfriend and their relationship with a patient (even if the patient is clearly not interested). Everyone (myself included) as noticed this particular situation occur one too many times, and it's not professional.
Now this office manager and one of the associates have had some run-ins lately. Mostly regarding scheduling issues. Just this Friday the associate had noticed a blank spot in her schedule and knew that with the patient load that she had earlier that day she would be behind and added a buffer. She went into her treatment room and came out a short time later to find a patient had been added where she had placed the buffer.
She questioned the OM about this and she stared right at her and told her "there was no buffer there". She lied right to her face. I was preparing to leave for the day and witnessed the whole thing. The assoc. told her that there was a buffer right there and she was sure of it because she added it herself. Then the OM started to back peddle and ramble about the person being in pain, and needing to come in, blah, blah, blah. What about the people that were in pain on the cancellation list that were waiting to come in? Apparently their pain didn't matter.
The assoc. was LIVID, but couldn't do much at the time since the OM's parents were sitting right in the waiting room at the time this all happened. She's not so angry about putting someone in when a buffer was there (it sadly happens all the time, and as a result she often will be running a half hour late by the end of the day). She is angry because the OM just lied right to her face, and didn't even apologize.
The OM sometimes will come to me for opinions on things as well, and it's getting harder and harder to be supportive when she is just blatantly abusing her power.
It will be interesting to see how things will unfold at work this week.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Surprise, Surprise
My parents had decided that they wanted to take Andre and I out to dinner for our anniversary. We went out to dinner on our own last weekend, so we went out to dinner with them last night. My father requested something "not exotic", so we went to Kelsey's. We're walking up to the front doors to put our name in for a table, and who is walking out the front doors after dinner? Pam and Mike. I think I just stood there and stared for a minute in shock because she had to walk over and tell me to give her a hug.
Her mom had taken the baby for the day so they could spend some time together. They had gone off and seen a movie, and then decided to have dinner together. They were rushing a little after dinner since Pam's boobs were killing her (no breast feeding all day).
I'm sure I will hear all about their day of freedom tomorrow because Pam and I are going shopping with Abbey tomorrow. Yes, I know, an outing. Very exciting. I'm looking forward to it and kind of dreading it all at the same time. Pam doesn't really do anything except visit her grandma and take care of the baby, so I don't know where the conversation is going to go.
I've learned the last few times that we got together that we used to be able to vent about our husbands, but she's started to majorly overreact if I so mention that Andre hasn't done something around the house. She almost freaks out about it. It's weird. Meanwhile her husband does NOTHING, and I'm not exaggerating about this. While she was at home pregnant he would cut the grass on the weekends because she couldn't physically do it. Otherwise she would've been doing that too. I appreciate that he works, but your wife is tired, get off your ass and pitch in. She would be popping Gravol because the pain was so bad she was nauseous and he would be sleeping. Gah!
Man, didn't realize how that still pissed me off! So anyways, yes I will have to filter what I vent about tomorrow. No Andre isn't the perfect male, but he does do a lot around the house, and he puts up with me! This filter will be difficult as Andre has been exercising his selective hearing skills lately which has lead to a few ummm "discussions".
Stay tuned for a post after my shopping expedition tomorrow.
Her mom had taken the baby for the day so they could spend some time together. They had gone off and seen a movie, and then decided to have dinner together. They were rushing a little after dinner since Pam's boobs were killing her (no breast feeding all day).
I'm sure I will hear all about their day of freedom tomorrow because Pam and I are going shopping with Abbey tomorrow. Yes, I know, an outing. Very exciting. I'm looking forward to it and kind of dreading it all at the same time. Pam doesn't really do anything except visit her grandma and take care of the baby, so I don't know where the conversation is going to go.
I've learned the last few times that we got together that we used to be able to vent about our husbands, but she's started to majorly overreact if I so mention that Andre hasn't done something around the house. She almost freaks out about it. It's weird. Meanwhile her husband does NOTHING, and I'm not exaggerating about this. While she was at home pregnant he would cut the grass on the weekends because she couldn't physically do it. Otherwise she would've been doing that too. I appreciate that he works, but your wife is tired, get off your ass and pitch in. She would be popping Gravol because the pain was so bad she was nauseous and he would be sleeping. Gah!
Man, didn't realize how that still pissed me off! So anyways, yes I will have to filter what I vent about tomorrow. No Andre isn't the perfect male, but he does do a lot around the house, and he puts up with me! This filter will be difficult as Andre has been exercising his selective hearing skills lately which has lead to a few ummm "discussions".
Stay tuned for a post after my shopping expedition tomorrow.
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