Ottawa

We had a very long week, but it was not filled with work. We had to go to Ottawa on Tuesday to get in our medical exam for our permanent resident application. We got a letter in the mail about a month ago telling us we had to get this done so we found a doctor on the certified physician list and made an appointment. We first stopped at town hall to drop off our fire permit and made a few other quick stops before we hit the road Tuesday morning. We got to Ottawa with plenty of time so stopped at IKEA. We didn't find much, but had a good walk though before heading next door to get lunch. After a good lunch, we headed towards the University of Ottawa where our appointment was. We got there with lots of time, but ended up driving around a bit trying to find a place to park. We finally found a spot and walked to the clinic and had time to fill out all our paper work. After a good wait, we were finally called in. We had to do aweigh in, blood pressure stuff, then a quick eye exam, then a urine test and then had to wait some more. Finally, we got in to see the doctor. He asked some quick questions about our history etc and did a very quick exam. He then told us to go downstairs for our blood tests and then we'd have to walk to the x-ray place which he said was a 10-15 min walk, but he didn't think we'd make it there before they closed so suggested we come back in the morning. Jeremy asked if we could do the x-rays anywhere (so we wouldn't have to drive back), but he suggested we better do it at this place where they know how to do follow the right procedures for immigration. It's very important we follow instructions, otherwise, it could wipe out our application. We also had 60 days from the time we got the letter to get all this done. So, we headed downstairs, got thru the blood test fairly quickly and asked for directions again to the x-ray place. This time, they told us it was a 15 min walk, up a few blocks and then down another few blocks. We checked the time and decided it was worth a shot to try to get there, however, we couldn't remember what time the doctor said they closed. We walked as quickly as we could and it turned out it was a good 20 minutes away. We got there about 4:12 and found out they closed at 4! So, we sighed and realized we were going to have to make the drive back to Ottawa again the next day. We got back to the car exhausted and headed home.

Wednesday, we got up about regular time and hit the road. At least this time we knew where we were going. We got in about 9:30 and turned in our paper work and sat down to wait. The waiting room kept filling up and a few people were being called and left. At about 10 am, they put up a sign saying no more x-rays until after 1pm! Oh no! But, they were letting people already there get in. So, it seemed we were ok. After an hour and half wait, we were finally called. We got in for our chest x-ray and got them done in about 5 minutes. We finally headed home, discouraged that we wouldn't get home until about 1:30. It'd be a 1/2 hour drive to work after that. We debated what we should do - if it'd be worth driving in to work. I decided to call in and see what they suggested as I left my computer in my office, otherwise, I'd work from home. It turned out, I decided to stay home. Jeremy did make the drive in since he had to get some things for his conference coming up next week. So, there went two days of work for me for this medical exam.

Since I was going to stay home, I decided I better make use of my time. I headed out to my garden with Hayde for the rest of the afternoon. I finished getting all the extra grass/weeds out of my garden and noticed more was starting to pop up. I also found some wild strawberries growing all over in the back yard as seen below. I'm going to try moving a few to my garden and see how they'll do next to my other strawberry plants.

Onions and strawberriesBeans

Peas

I also notice some grass is starting to sprout where I put the seed so this is good, especially since it's been so warm (80s) and sunny all week and Hayde's been trampling thru this each day. I'd like to get the rest of the front yard done this week - moving my berry bushes, getting an old stump out of the front yard, finish moving my remaining bulbs out of the way and getting some of my herbs replanted and putting down some additional grass seed where there's big dirt spots and maybe pick up a few extra fill-in plants. We have a long weekend with Victoria Day on Monday, however, Jeremy has to head to Montreal Monday to be there in the afternoon for the start of his conference. We don't know why they can't wait to start until Tuesday. I'm also in taper mood for my race next weekend so I should have an easier week of running coming up and it looks like it could hit 90F by the beginning of the week. I'll try to get another post in by the end of the weekend and add a few more pictures of hopefully a completed front yard (for the time being) One more thing....we ran into our neighbor to the west one night this week while she was out with her small dog. We ended up chatting for a while and she showed us her house (which is the same structure as ours) and we showed her ours. We were curious about each other's additions. Her's is on the opposite side of the back and is a family room. She turned her regular living room into a dinning room and our addition is the entry way. Turns out she used to live in the house behind her current one which again is the same structure house. The house(just like ours) on the corner that went up for sale is now sold (in about a week or two tops!). They were asking $20k more than what we paid! Most houses like ours in our neighborhood had asking prices of $15-20k more than what we got ours for just less than a year ago! Well, we're watching the 3rd game between Chicago and San Jose (Burish vs Pavelski - both former badgers on the championship team) that's just starting over-time.