To have and to hold... with or without the rings!

You may recall my last pregnancy... I had a post called 'And the rings come off' - well its that time of the pregnancy again - but this time my rings were officially stuck on my finger as of last night.

What an ordeal taking, budging, ripping my rings off. My poor poor POOR finger.

I wore my rings to the cottage but didn't really wear them while I was there... I may have had them on the first two days, but with swimming and applying suntan lotion all. the. time. I just put them in my purse and forgot about them until the final day. When I was packing up, I remembered them and tried to put them on but with little success. I commented that, its that time again - bye bye rings.

However, come Tuesday morning, out of habit, I tried them on again, and while they didn't slide right on, I was able to use a little a lot of force to get them on. And ON they stayed... as the day heated up, so did my body temperature. When I got home from work, I looked down and my rings looked like they were forced on an overweight marshmallow. Not cool. I tried to take them off, but with no such luck.

I had a little meltdown... okay, I cried a little, and swore A LOT - then I pulled myself together and did the logical thing - Google'd 'How to get rings off a swollen finger'.

Luckily there are TONS of options, none of which really work, but a couple which I was willing to try - including taping my swollen finger up for an hour on ice... using saran wrap and windex (don't ask)... and going between heat and ice for 30 minutes.

Finally, last night, I used a combo of baby oil and soap and warm water and 35 minutes later I managed to get my engagement ring off. I did a little happy dance... until I looked down at my poor little finger and saw my wedding band still on there, and I remembered that my other band was a half size smaller than my engagement ring.

Can you say '#$%@ @#$%, &%#@, !@#$, &%#$"

Ya... I did.

I thought... just calm down, give it a half hour and try again, but an hour later, my finger was throbbing, and tingling. By the time PC got in from hockey, I said to him 'Would you be mad if I got my wedding band cut off?'

His immediate reaction was 'You can't, its platinum'.

Apparently, platinum is hard to cut or dangerous as you can lose your finger - either way, I am thinking, I am going to lose my finger if I don't get this sucker off.

I questioned PC a little more 'Are you sure you went with platinum and not white gold' to which he assured me, as per the insurance appraisal that IT IS PLATINUM.

So, I decided to ice it for a bit, wrap my finger up with tape as per Google's advice... and sleep on it. During the night, I woke up about 3 times with my finger tingling, and my arm half asleep. This morning, the swelling was down, but the ring still would not budge. I showered and moved the ring a bit, but not enough to get over my hippo knuckle.

I starting praying ... 'please lord, let me have a SKINNY day... PLEASE'.

However, after consulting a friend who consulted a friend of hers, she told me to drink a lot of water to bring the retention down, so I went to town chugging water all morning, and when I got home today my finger seemed skinnier! I ran warm water ... used the old baby oil and a lot of soap and after another 20 minutes of cursing and forcing the ring, I finally got it off.

You can only imagine the celebration that follow... WHOOO-HOOO!

What a relief... I honestly thought I was going to lose my finger.

The lesson... and my advice to all pregnant women out there is if you force the rings on.... its gonna take double the force and few hell mary's to get those puppies off. Bottom line, its not worth the pain and agony - trust me!

Any one else out there ever have to force your rings off due to pregnancy or any other reason? Do you have any secret solutions for any one suffering from swollen ring-gers!!!

You can dress up a catholic girl but you can't take her anywhere!

Yesterday, PC, E and I enjoyed a nice little brunch in honour of our good friends Erin and Barry who are getting married in Jamaica in the New Year Year. The brunch was held in Centrepointe at a beautiful home, and we enjoyed ourselves very much.

Now... what I should tell you is that our good friends Erin & Barry are Jewish. This really means nothing in terms of friendship, except that if I were to scan our list of close friends, they would be the only Jewish friends we have (that I know of), so its safe to say they are our favourite Jews!

Even further background on this friendship is that, Erin is a member of 130-O (University crew) and when I met her she was not Jewish. When she and Barry starting dating we learned about Judaism through her, as she experienced all of their traditions for the first time. In the last year, she has recently converted to Judaism, so please keep this in mind as this post progresses.

As I was saying, the Jewish thing is really irrelevant... but around this time of year, it becomes relevant given the difference between Hanukah and Christmas. Now, Erin, she and her family still celebrate Christmas, while Barry and his family celebrate Hanukah, and together, as couple they do both - Christmukah!

Yesterday, the lovely brunch was held at a brother of Barry's, and well pre-pregnancy brain would have immediately flag to me that they celebrate Hanukah and NOT CHRISTMAS. But of course, post-pregnancy I still have mush for brains, and while we were socializing with other guests at the brunch, the thought crossed my mind that the family hasn't yet decorated for Christmas. They have a beautiful spiral staircase and a very nice opening at the bottom... and the thought also crossed my mind that this would be the PERFECT spot for a 20 foot tree, with clear lights, and all the decorations one could imagine.

As the event was winding down, we decided we should hit the road. E had been the perfect guest... cute as a button, and didn't say boo the whole time we were there. I was quite proud of him. I think I must have been so proud that I didn't bother to turn on my common sense, as just before we were leaving I said to the Barry's nieces:

'You have a lovely home, where do you guys put your Christmas tree?'

And I was dead serious... until Erin was right at the door with me and gave me 'the eyes' sounding the dumb bells, and I went from 'I'm the cool women with the cute kid', to 'excuse me while I run outside and wash my face out with yellow snow'.

I KNEW that they celebrated Hanukah, I really did - so why did I say that? What baffles me even more is that I actually thought to myself 'my, they don't have their tree up yet' - knowing full well they don't. put. up. a. Christmas. tree.

My humble apologies to this family... as the title states, you can dress up a catholic girl up, but you can't take her out. It's been full-on Christmas for me since the day I was born... so please forgive me for not clueing in sooner that not everyone in the world celebrates the same occasions I do.

And just in case you are wondering, I am still trying to pry my foot out of my mouth!

So from the bottom of my heart... to Erin & Barry and their family: Happy Hanunkah!

Don't leave home without a back-up pair of shoes!

This weekend, we went out for dinner with friends to celebrate a birthday. It was a casual night, I just wore jeans and semi-fancy maternity top with my brown sandals. I love my brown sandals, they give me a bit of height, but have a wedge heel so the comfort for walking is still there, while providing a bit of support to.

I haven't wore them much this summer, it just seems that my maternity wardrobe doesn't require a brown sandal too often.

Lately, my feet have become increasingly sore.... and while they hurt to stand on for long periods of time, they have never showed any signs of swelling, which I thought was a real bonus - until Saturday night.

During dinner... I was feeling hot, the restaurant was warm, and it was in low lighting, and my feet felt a little cramped, so I nonchalantly removed my sandals under the table, not thinking much of it.

The drinks and appetizers came, then the main courses (which I took my sweet time eating)... and finally we decided on some desserts... in total it was a good two and half hours we were at the restaurant. Just as dessert was over and we were thinking of packing up, I decided to slip my sandals back on.

One first try, they wouldn't go on, and I immediately thought to myself: 'I have them on the wrong feet'. So I grabbed one from under the table to check, but it was in fact the right sandal for my right foot. I put it back under the table and tried again, but no go. I could only get my toes jammed into the top part of the sandal, I still had a good 6 inches to go before I could even consider standing up on the damn things to walk.

In my head, I am freaking out.... and I mean FREAKING. This has never happened to me before... my feet haven't shown any signs of swelling before tonight, and the worst part is I only brought this pair shoes for the entire night and we still had a trip to the casino on the agenda before the night could even be considered over!

As the waitress comes to clean up the table from dessert, she asks if we need anything else... or if we are ready for the bills. I confess that I can't get my shoes on, so we are going to have hang out a while longer. Thank gawd the group concurs, and orders another bottle of wine. They slowly sip away at it while I spend the next 30 minutes forcing my fat feet back into my adored brown sandals.

I hate pregnant feet, and I really hate the fact that I didn't have a shitty old pair of flip flops in the back of the car, ready for an emergency situation like this.

I finally did manage to get my feet about 4 inches in the sandals, enough to at least walk out of the restaurant with my dignity in tact, and when we reached the car, I cranked the AC on the floor and slowly my feet returned to their pre-dinner state, but trust me from now on I don't go anywhere from home without my trusty, wide/large/roomy flip flops in the back for the car.

Did any of you post-pregnant ladies ever experience the fat feet prego syndrome.... ? How did you cope?

One Handed Typing

Well this post will be considerably shorter than anticipated because I am typing with only one-hand today thanks to a nasty slip on the ice yesterday.

What a way to start a Monday morning, late to work due to freezing rain and heavy traffic, and then while approaching the office door my feet came right out from under me, landing me flat on my ass with my arm under me. No warning, no almost doing the splits, nothing - just one big KA-BOOM and I was looking up at the sky.

It was one of those falls that makes you feel like crying right then and there, but then you think to yourself how childish that would be and somehow you manage to pick yourself up and continue to the door (all the while swearing like a trucker)!

Needless to say, my wrist/hand was very sore the entire day - throbbing at times - and this morning it was so stiff I couldn't even hold my toothbrush or hair brush. I had my family doctor check it out this afternoon and she deemed it a deep bruising of the bone that will take about a week to heal... so I am now sporting a very fashionable tan-coloured tenser bandage and will be for the next few days.

I am not sure how I will get along at work as a good part of my day is spent typing emails and reports, but I hopefully slow and steady will win the race ... it will have to at this point.

At any rate, I think I've maxed out my typing for one day, so I will wrap this up and hopefully find sometime later in the week to get in another post.

All I can say right now is my first order of business tomorrow will be chewing out the parking lot maintenance staff at the office telling them to get some sand and salt out there before someone a lot less youthful than me breaks a hip!

How NOT to cap off a very good weekend.

Late yesterday I posted about the snow, the good neighbour we have, and the fact that I was going to my in-laws for dinner. Not just any dinner, but homemade Donairs, a personal family favourite. The purpose of the trip was to A. Eat, B. Drop-off our gifts for Christmas as we are heading North this year.

PC was coming from Ottawa at the same time I was heading to Max-vegas. As I set out on the backroads, the roads conditions went from poor to bad to very bad. As I was half way to the main highway... I thought about turning around, but given that I was already in the bad conditions, I thought manoeuvring a turn around would be just as difficult as plowing forward to meet PC.

I decided to continue plowing... and did so straight into a ditch.

Visibility at the time was extremely poor... and on the backroads I was between two farmers fields, completely covered in snow, and on a road, completely covered in snow - with absolutely no markers, except a sign 30 meters back that indicated an S curve. I did my best to navigate the S curve for memory... but as bad luck would have it, apparently I was a little too far to the left.

Luckily, my entrance into the ditch was performed in rather stylish fashion... as my left tire left the road, pulling the entire Escape ever-so graciously to the left with it. I screamed, said a few favourable words, and as the snow shot up over the windshield, I was sitting pretty with Keith Urban's 'I Told You So' playing on the ipod.

I sat in the truck for about a minute before plotting my next move. I was okay, the truck was okay, and the boat load of gifts going to the in-laws were exactly were I had originally set them in the back set. Everything was OK.

I tried to backout of the ditch a few times, but nothing would budge. I was still a little flustered ... with my hands shaking rather rapidly - I reached for the cell phone.

First call: PC.

PC: What's wrong.
Me: I'm in the ditch (in tears).

PC: Are you okay?
Me: Yes (in tears).

PC: Are you sure?
Me: Yes (in tears).

PC: Where are you?
Me: In the ditch.

PC: WHERE in the ditch?
Me: (laughing but crying) Route 300 and St. Thomas, near the curve.

PC: Okay... call CAA, and we will be there shortly.
Me: You won't be able to get down the road in the car, its bad.

PC: It's okay, just call CAA.
Me: Okay.

So... I call CAA, I am sure with 40 cms of snow in Ottawa and the surrounding area they probably haven't had a call all day!

CAA is busy, busy, busy - not even a 'Thank you for calling, your call is important to us' - nope, just a busy signal. PC calls back shortly to tell me that our friend/neighbour Pat (not the snow-blower neighbour), is on his way to get me.

And he was... in 15 minutes I was sitting pretty in his Escape... and we were on our way to get PC at the 417. Pat got us back to the house safely... and a half hour later we got through to CAA, and got the call out for a tow truck in the area.

At 8:55 pm, two and half hours after we placed the call, the tow-truck called to say he was at our vehicle. PC and Pat headed back out and by 9:30 pm, the Escape was back in the drive-way, safe and sound.

What a night! I should have never been on the roads in the first place. I talked to my Mother-in-law before going out, who suggested that we didn't come at all due to the weather, but given that she was making donairs, and it was the only night that both PC and I had to deliver our Christmas gifts to them - I really wanted to go.

I know... STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And I feel just that, STUPID. But in all the stupidity, I am thankful for a few things:

1. I was not hurt - a little shook up, but not physically hurt.
2. That I have a great husband in a situation that isn't so great.
3. For our neighbour Pat, LIFESAVER.
4. That there was no damage to anyone or anything.
5. Donairs can be refrigerated and reheated!

This post has gotten to be very long, I will have to bail on the update of my productive weekend. But I promise to divulge that info in another post, soon to come.

Stupid vs. Stupid

As you probably know, we've received a ton of snow in the capital city and surrounding area these past two weeks.

We are not in a state of emergency or anything crazy like that, but the city of Ottawa is working diligently to clear the side streets and walk ways in a timely fashion.

However, some streets just haven't been cleared yet, and therefore I encountered the following situation on my way to my 7 o'clock curling game last evening.

Let me preface this story by saying... yesterday was a high-stress day at work, and I was not in the mood for any further setbacks or annoyances as I was racing across town to make my game.

GAME TIME: 7:00 pm

7:03: I arrive on the ONE WAY side street that takes me directly to the club parking lot. The street is heavily crowded with snow banks, cars parked practically in the middle of the road, and a few freezing pedestrians walking down the only path available - the middle.

7:05: Still on the side street, inching along behind 1 pedestrian who does not want to get over in the snow bank.

7:06: Finally get around the pedestrian and arrive at the club parking lot entrance. The lot appears jammed full of cars, however, I think I see a spot half way up the one-way lot, where 1 car may have left. I think to myself 'Can I be this lucky?'

7:07: NO! I am not this lucky. The spot is really only half a spot. DAMN - now I have to back out of the entire parking lot, hoping to not to hit any of 38 cars that are parked jagged in the lot.

7:09: I am almost out of the parking lot. To get to adequate parking I must back out the wrong way on a one-way street (standard procedure for the Rideau Curling Club). As I get my ass-end out on the street, almost hitting a high snow bank, I see a cyclist out the corner of my eye.

7:10: I do some quick manoeuvring to avoid denting a BMW SUV, which leaves me diagonal, going the wrong way on a one way street. The cyclist is stopped in the middle of the road, we make eye contact, as he throws his hands up in disgust and mouths to me: What the F^%&* are you doing?

7:11: I quickly put my window down and yell back: 'Pardon... your the idiot riding a bike in 10 feet of snow', as I hit the gas and breeze around the corner, equally disgusted.

7:16: I wheel around the block twice, and decide parking on the street is hopeless. There appears to be a funeral going on at the funeral home nearby, so I sneak into the parking lot, and pretend to be in mourning, as I quickly scoot across the parking lot with my bag and broom in hand.

7:24: Missed the first end, but I managed to make it time to throw my rocks in the second end.

No, I am not proud of myself, and no I wouldn't normally react like that - but in all honesty, cyclists in the city should be restricted to:

A) Daily light hours;
B) Months between April and October;

(Caitlin, you are still allowed to try riding your bike in the snow ONCE for the experience!!!).

Yes, we all need to take extra caution in the winter, and yes we shouldn't let a bad day at work affect the way we treat completely innocent people... but people doing stupid things shouldn't criticize other people doing stupid things.

Mr. Cyclist, I will quit driving the wrong way on a one way street, if you quit biking in the winter... DEAL?

DEAL.

Now... can we get backing to the spirit of Christmas?