Garage Sale Success!

We had a garage sale and lived to tell the tale! It was a lot of work but it paid off in the end- we made about $300 for the baby room! It was so satisfying to see people take our stuff away, too. We put up about 40 or so little posters all over our neighborhood and we had our first customer just before 9AM. There was hardly any bargaining to be done because people were generally willing to pay whatever we asked for. We took the time to put prices on everything and I think that really helped. All in all, we're happy with the whole experience!

Big thank you to our friend Pierre who lent us tables from his work and picked them up with Stéphane (and dropped them off) and helped Stéphane bring everything downstairs first thing Saturday.

Here are some photos of our setup:

See Stéphane using his super salesman skills to get rid of our stuff:

Before he sold his foam numchucks, Stéphane gave us a demonstration... They're flying so fast you can barely see them!


Our pal Gregory came over at 8AM to help us set up and he stayed all day! Thank goodness because it would have been hard with just two people.



Gregory's dog Plato came for a visit...



And this is what was left! We put a sign on the desk with the magic word: "FREE!" When we checked this morning, only the desk itself is still there, all the rest is gone.


This is what we're going to drop off today - a bunch of books, some clothes and other miscellaneous items including about 20 binders - I still can't get over the fact that we had all this stuff in our apartment!



All in all a great day. My feet took a bit of a beating but after a very good sleep (I was out and apparently snoring by 11PM) I'm feeling almost-new this morning. We have a Communauto today, so we are going to drop off the leftovers, take down our posters and go to Home Depot to spend some of our profits!

Stéphane's New Job!

Exciting news! Stéphane got a job offer yesterday from bigshot distributor Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and he is thrilled to accept. He will be working in their DVD department starting after Labour Day on an 18-month contract. He has been looking for a new job for a while now so this is a welcome change. To celebrate we went out for dinner with our friends Brigitte and Caroline to La Bottega in our 'hood and had an excellent meal. Even I was able to eat a diabetes-friendly meal! (Or not far from it anyway). Here are some photos of our evening:

Too Hot for Hot Air Balloons and Health Update

So we bailed out of hot air balloon watching last night in favour of spontaneously going out for sushi and to the movies. As a couple who has studied, works in and basically eats, sleeps and breathes the film and TV industry, we tend to see lots of movies. Everyone's favorite comment to make about impending parenthood is of course "Watch out, your lives are about to change! Forget about seeing any more movies!" My husband tends to get all pale when people say things like that so we're seeing as many movies as we can, while we can. Friday night we had a date at the drive-in where we saw a new Québec film called "Les Trois petits cochons" (Three Little Pigs) which was very good and last night we went to "Becoming Jane" which was so-so. I got all weepy at the end but it could easily be a renter. I wish I had brought my camera with me because we got all cleaned up to go out and we were looking pretty good!

Anyway, the other news is that it turns out that I have gestational diabetes. This happens to 3 to 5% of all pregnant women making it the most common pregnancy complication there is. Despite the scary sounding name, it just means that my body doesn't produce enough insulin to control the elevated levels of glucose in my system, so I have to help out by eating a certain way, making sure to exercise, checking my urine every morning and generally paying attention to myself. In extreme cases, some women actually have to inject themselves with insulin. In my case (which I discovered after spending the ENTIRE DAY at the Diabetes Clinic at St. Mary's hospital on Thursday), my glucose levels are actually not so bad. After redoing the blood and urine tests, meeting with nurses, seeing an endocrynologist and a dietician, it has been determined that I am actually a borderline case. I am following a special diet that has been imposed, I mean, prescribed to me this week, then I go back again on Thursday to redo all my tests and hopefully be in the clear. I'll still have to check my urine and likely watch what I eat until delivery, but in theory, I'll have one less thing to worry about.

So that's the news out here! We just did a huge grocery shop (which took forever because I have to now obsessively check the carb level in everything I buy) but I will at least have everything at my fingertips to continue my special eating plan this week. Did I mention that I have to eat six times a day? Including TWO CUPS of vegetables? And did you know that the list of vegetables that DON'T cause heartburn is very, very short?

Otherwise, the garage sale/general clean-up/baby room project continues. We will be posting our garage sale signs this week and have borrowed tables from a friend of ours. It's really more like a sidewalk sale actually. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures because I have a feeling that I myself won't believe the amount of STUFF that we'll have to get rid of. We made big strides this weekend. Not enough to post the before and after pictures, but we're getting there.

Off to have my diabetes friendly dinner!

A Bunch of New Stuff (part 4) Baby Shower and Last Day

So happy that it's the weekend! It's a little humid around here today but there's no rain in the forecast. We will be spending our day continuing the great garage sale project (happening next Saturday!) and taking a break tonight to go to the hot air balloon festival and seeing the lit up hot air balloons take to the sky. We went last year for the first time and it's really something to see. I'll post those pictures tomorrow.

Anyway, back to my B.C. trip! After family lunch on Sunday, everyone headed home (or so I thought) and my Mom and I were going to the mall. My aunt Betty called and suggested I stop by their house on our way so that I could pick up some baby stuff that my cousin Rachel had hanging around. Great! I wanted to see Orin and Betty and the rest of the family anyway so we headed over for what was supposed to be a quick stop en route to Thyme Maternity. We got there and lo and behold, a baby shower was in full swing - for me! Surprise! I truly was surprised - I am really not at all the suspicious type - and thrilled. There were all kinds of people there that I hadn't seen for ages and lots of ladies that I've known for most of my life from Johnston Heights church. Jen organized us to play some games (I was hopeless at the word scramble) and do a "New Mom's Questions and Answers" kind of exercise which was super interesting! I now know what a onesie is and that honey is not good for new babies among many other useful tips.

Here are some of the photos my Mom took:

We got all kinds of adorable presents - this little girl will be very well dressed!

Gil Goudsward made this dress - a perfect baby dedication outfit if ever I saw one!

Diana made us a "cake" of diapers, books and other baby stuff...


Georgia enjoying her new curly hair...

My artist friend Sue made me this spectacular diaper bag (even lined with vinyl!) and a necklace that's just for me, not baby :)

And did I mention the food? There was a gorgeous spread of treats (thanks Brad!) and this
super cutie (and delicious) cake.

Group photo!

So that was Sunday! It was late afternoon by the time all the socializing was done and we packed up all the gifts and headed back to my Mom's. Thank you everyone for coming! thank you Orin and family for opening your home! Thank you Mom and Jen for throwing such a great party!

On to Monday... After spending one more night at my Mom's in the super deluxe guest room and having a quick visit with Julie, my friend of thirty years, I headed out to Jen's on Monday morning just in time to take Xavier to school. Then we all headed out to the park!

Next was lunch where Jen works - an excellent fish and chips place - and some time spent at home coloring and reading. We had snacktime and Jen and I packed up a big rubbermaid full of baby clothes for me to bring back to Montréal, and then I had to head out. See you guys at Christmas!

I went back to Vancouver and spent my last evening at Stanley Park at the Oklahoma performance. Dad and Jill were both there and Jaime of course was in the show. It was gorgeous warm evening and I completely enjoyed myself. Here are some pictures I took from the car as I was driving by English Bay.

The next day I did a few errands in the morning, packed up all my stuff and flew back to Montréal. I got home around 12:30 and Stéphane came to pick me up at the airport. Montréal was in the middle of a heat wave so even at that time it was pretty warm and stuffy but it was still nice to be home. So that was my trip! I got to see lots of people and spend time with my family and get spoiled a little. All that plus White Spot! I think that's the last trip I'll be taking for a while, now. It was pretty exhausting I have to say. At almost seven months pregnant, I'm thinking I'll stay in the ground for the next few months...

A Bunch of New Stuff! Part 3 (and it's a long one!)

Wow, time does fly! I am finally sitting down to post the rest of my B.C. trip photos... Better late than never, right? I went to Theatre Under the Stars to see "Oklahoma!" directed by my Dad and starring (okay, well, she's a member of the chorus) my youngest sister, Jaime. That's her in the pigtails and blue dress. I spent a lot of time at this theatre as a kid so it was pretty amazing to spend an evening there and see how well they are doing! If you are reading this and you live in the Lower Mainland, I highly recommend heading down there for either of the shows!

The next day Jaime and I took Barney for a walk in the forest...

(This is Jaime's artsy photo of the forest)

Then we headed to White Spot so I could finally indulge my need for a triple-O cheeseburger! As you can see from the photo, I went for the FULL White Spot experience, chocolate shake and all. It was AMAZING.

I wanted to take some photos in my grandparents' (Piercy side) old neighborhood so Jaime and I headed over there and took these :

My grandparents have both passed away and their house isn't there anymore but it's so weird because in my head, it still exists. I can see it so clearly! Anyway, continuing the nostalgia trip, Jaime and I went up into Queen Elizabeth Park (sorry Grandpa, couldn't walk up the same way you and I did. Couldn't "take the path" like we used to because anyway, if we took the path, what would Grandma do with it once we got home?) and took more photos:

After the park, we did some grocery shopping and found the ultimate ice cream: Haagen Daaz Sticky Toffee Pudding! Jaime and I became complete addicts of Sticky Toffee Pudding when we were in the UK last year so this discovery is very, very significant! We had dinner with Auntie Jean and Uncle Ray and Uncle Ray's cousin Helen that evening and thorougly enjoyed ourselves. You'll have to take my word for it because we didn't take any photos!

The next day I headed out to Surrey to meet my Mom so we could go get pedicures. Before we left, she unveiled her all-new guest room which is GORGEOUS. Of course I forgot to take a picture but maybe since Matthew and Bari are there now, they'll put a picture on their blog! We'll be fighting for that room at Christmas, no question :)

Here are the results of our pedicure at Beauty Nail (mine are the puffy ones on the left):

We had a fantastic day shopping and chatting and stopping for coffee at Starbucks. That night we did dinner (at White Spot!) and a movie (The Simpsons!) which was a great way to end the day.

Sunday was just full of surprises! Literally! I got to be with the family for their weekly Sunday lunch and on the menu were all treats I had requested: Grandma's potato salad, her strawberry jello salad, my Mom's 9-layer salad and open face turkey, ham and egg sandwiches. Heavenly! It was fun to hang out with all the kids again, too.

This is Georgia squealing in delight as Carl throws her higher and higher in the air. I think it's so funny that all you can see are her little feet hanging down... My Mom's living room ceiling is really high.

(Klausine took this picture)

That's all I can do for tonight! Next post will be all the photos from my surprise baby shower!