relocation acclamation

It has been a very busy few months of boxing, organizing, and fresh starts.

We have packed up and relocated to a stunning, friendly, little town of 5,700 people. To put that in perspective, when I lived in the metro Chicago area, I was surrounded by 9.5 million souls. GTA? Around 6 million. Luckily, I enjoy a quiet life, so the change is not too drastic so far. 

So, here I am living in Brayon territory training my ear for a very different dialect. It's French, yes. 82% of households here have French as their mother tongue. But it's also a living, breathing, colourful mix of French, English, and a mystery ingredient I've yet to identify. It's not just chiac as many suggest - it is its own non-acadian thing. And that thing is damn hard to follow for an Anglo like me! At least chiac has a strong English mix I can follow, like "watcher un movie" and "parker mon car".

But, I'm trying and I'm learning. It's rare to hear English or even fragments of French I understand when out and about, so it's like there's a constant noise buffer around me when we're shopping. There's a soft wall of conversation my curiosity can't lean against. 

One thing is for sure - news travels fast in this town. We were out shovelling a few days ago and met one of our neighbours who already knew where Nancy works and what she does. He already knew what kind of dog we have, that she's very friendly, and not that old. That I work from home. The grapevine grows on the neighbourhood watch signs here. It's somehow refreshing, though. We were a little concerned about being a female couple in a small town, but have yet to face as much as an eyebrow raise from the locals. If anything, that we're vegetarians attracts more attention. 

I'm enjoying life here so far. It's a little more challenging for my social fiancée in that she doesn't yet have a group of like-minded people to run with, but it'll come. We are meeting good people, and although we miss our SJ friends very much, social life here will become more familiar and comfortable with time. Plus, our friends in SJ HAVE SAID THEY WILL VISIT. ahem. reminder.

The cold is something we all have to get used to. The temperature has bounced around and on warmer days we snowshoe, but we've had windchill in the negative 30s nearly every day since Christmas and it's hard not being able to exercise the dog. And hard for the pooch to behave with so much bubbling potential energy. It's -18 today, so Abbey and I bundled up for an hour-long trek. We are both much more satisfied because of it. Her frozen, eyeless teddy bear may tell a different story.

One thing that concerns me about the weather here is the threat of summer. People keep telling me it nears the +40s on occasion and I am just not built for that kind of heat. I become a bumbling, confused mess in the heat. We're renting for now, so hopefully by the time that menace rolls around, I'll be living in a place with air conditioning!

Nothing to report on the MS side. I'm doing well unmedicated. I feel as strong as ever and am hoping that trend continues. Vitamin D, CoQ10, curcumin, B12 - 6-7 servings of fruit and veg a day. I know with a wedding on the horizon that this year may bring some undue stress, but we're trying to plan ahead to mitigate it. 

Here's to new beginnings!

Winter is coming...

We've been winterizing the house and I am really hoping all this work will make a difference in the electric bills this winter.  The big bonus of winterizing is we also do a "fall cleanup" at the same time. Ahhhh, decluttering!

So far we've gutted the porch closet, refilled it with summer love, and shrinkwrapped it. It's breezy out in the porch, so closing off the closet and window are necessary evils. Ultimately, I'd like to get someone who knows house-y things to tell us wt-heck we can do out there longterm to help with efficiency. I can see underneath there from the front stoop, so I'm guessing there's be a relatively easy way to insulate. Anyone? No idea. Must consult the fathers for suggestions.

Happy first day of autumn, friends. We've already cleared the lawn of leaves once, and the grass is again buried beneath them, so the seasons of blankets and wool socks approacheth! Whooo! Many dread our long winters, but I generally experience fewer symptoms through the cold months, so I welcome the white weather. Yeah, it's a lot of early morning and late night snowblowing and shovelling but I'll take it. 

But first, the season of colour! I am so excited to be heading to Newfoundland for a little trip during fall! I have lived in four provinces and one state and there's nothing that compares to the oranges, yellows, and reds that cover the west coast of Newfoundland in autumn. Love. 

It's gearing up to be an unusual trip for me because the dog, while recovering fantastically, is still not fully healed. That means no stairs, no slippery surface floors (hard to avoid, even here in our own house), and zero crate time. The specialist told us from the start that if we absolutely HAVE to crate her, to limit it as much as humanly possible. So, our babe has been uncrated since the first surgery. I like to keep her used to the idea since there will undoubtedly be times when we'll have to rely on the crate, but she's enjoying her freedom and there seem to be fewer occasions when a crate is warranted. Yellow tornado is growing up.

I always feel like I should include a note on how I'm doing for the fam who don't ask. On the symptom front, no real change. Still symptomatic. It's no better but no worse. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have sweaters to sort.

the dog days are over...

Not really, I just like that song.

So, let's get this out of the way. I'm caught in an unpleasant spot and have to pay for my Avonex out of pocket tomorrow. Ouch. Second time. I don't want to get into the ins and outs of my insurance situation on the Internet, but let's just say this hasn't been an entirely fun week in that arena of my life. I wish I had a sense of how beneficial Avonex truly is for me. If I thought there was little risk in skipping a month, I'd happily do it until I have insurance figured out.

I'm of sound mind and body, reason clearly, and work full-time. Still, insurance companies are sketchy about coverage for me because I have this pre-existing condition. The words "multiple sclerosis" raise insurance alarm bells. There's just no way around getting my health underwritten. So. Ouch. Let's move onto happier thoughts and not think about the cost…

In much better news, I'm getting a dog! My very first puppy ever! I can't begin to explain how excited I am about it…her. I love having pets, and while Ringo's a great little companion and seems to have adopted me as his family since I've invaded his home, I really, really want to raise a fuzzy something from scratch again. So, a dog! She's a yellow lab from Greyden Farms in Ontario, where my sweet canine niece is from. I've seen some photos, but not of her specifically. I am EXCITED to have a walking partner (once she's more than three apples high, of course) and motivation to get me off my butt on chilly days when I'd rather stay in.

In other news, I'm heading home to Newfoundland for a week for my mom's 60th bash. It was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision but I'm happy about it. I have to work the entire time I'm home, but I'll figure it all out. It'll be good to see my parental units. :)

That's about it. Life's good, minus the insurance bumpiness. I've been snowshoeing bunches and have taken stronger steps to track my protein lately. I've had some concerns about my protein since dropping meat from my diet a year ago, but everything looks good and I easily get within my protein range every day. I'd eventually like to drop seafood completely too, but for now it's still in my diet. Ideally, I'd be vegan, but that's not happening while there's still delicious cheese on this planet. And, now that I realize that many cheeses aren't really even vegetarian, I'm trying to make better choices there too.

C'est tout!

Oh, and I'm going to see Serena Ryder, Melissa Etheridge, Arcade Fire, and U2 this year! Sweet!

Home for a rest

Home again, home again.

My MRI is tomorrow morning. To say that I'm a little nervous is laughable. I'm a lot nervous. I have a tiny prescription of lorazepam to calm me during the scan, but it didn't work well last time (I got drowsy after the scan), so I'm not pinning all of my hopes on it.

Nance is coming with me to the hospital. I've relied on music to get me through other scans, but this hospital doesn't offer piped in music. Bummer. At least I'll have comfort in a friendly hand on my feet.

Logically, I realize how silly MRI claustrophobia is. When I think about it, I'll just be flaked out on a table in an open tube. I can get out on either end. I'm not locked in. The scan is beneficial. Nothing will hurt me. But none of that quells the fear that rises in my chest as the wee table is rolled into the machine. Small spaces are small spaces. They all feel like coffins to me.

On a much more positive note, I had a great trip home. It was really fun to surprise the folks (even the ones with no big reactions) and made my heart happy to see my dad enjoying himself so much on Halloween. I take after him in that way - I love Halloween. The creepier, the better. None of these fluffy, friendly-faced decorations, please. He and my step-mom have more Halloween decorations than some small stores, so he and I ended up sitting on a spooky front step amidst artificial fog and assorted ghouls and skeletons, waiting to scare the daylights out of kids. [Note: no children were harmed in the making of this evening]. It was also fun to surprise mom by knocking on her door trick-or-treating and to surprise N's mom by pretending to be a dummy in her haunted house basement (N's dad pretended he had set us up while she was out shopping). Bonus vacation points for getting to meet my new furry brother, Sam.

It felt like a really quick trip and I didn't get a chance to do a few things I'd have liked to (didn't get to hike at all, see a few people I planned on visiting, or get shopping with mom), but overall I'm so glad I went.

At least I'm going into tomorrow's MRI with tons of fun recent memories to mull over.