Racing Across

Two more calls later and Lanes still has no PR card. The only good news is that she is on their radar. The bad news is that it can take up to 30 days for us to get it. To say I’m annoyed would be putting it lightly. However, all the different agents we spoke to on the phone said that if we drive into Canada in a private car, we (meaning Lanes) should be able to re-enter with only her landing card.

What if we get the one officer who didn’t get that memo when we try to come back to Canada? Would Lanes (and therefore yours truly since Lanes is more or less like an appendage to me) be stuck in the U.S. of A? With Sri Lankan passports, is that even an option? Where would we go? Would my next blog be typed with us balancing precariously on a piece of driftwood in international waters? I hope not. I don’t do so well on water—it’s not my element.

We really weighed the pros and cons, but with the spirit of Christmas wrapping itself around us, we decided to be brave (and the constant phone calls begging us to come to Seattle also pushed us over the edge)and we hopped in the car at the last minute and came on down. Why not? We just hope we can get back with no problem.

Other than that this week has been quiet. By some miracle P decided to research tax laws in Canada and we realized that although we have just descended upon the place, we need to file taxes for this year, regardless of the fact that we are gloriously unemployed. We have to file by the end of this month, I believe. After looking rather ‘stung in the behind’ (a phrase I learned from my aunt, no less) by this news, I quickly asked P to print out the necessary forms and get on with it.

Lanes had her school Christmas party, and I finally got all my Cookie Cutters sorted out. The Square one is definitely still on the list, but I mistook the skinny one (who turns out is nice) for the Queen of Mean. Square’s real sidekick and partner in prissiness is a rather tall manish woman, who had been missing for the last week or so because she popped a kid.

So anyways Square Cookie Cutter at least smiles slightly now, but she and the Queen of Mean just sat by themselves and didn’t socialize with anyone else at the party. Anyway, the end of this year marks the end of the Cookie Cutter tale. I’m sure I’ll be on to more exciting adventures, as my life is never short of ‘endearing’ people.

Not much progress in the apartment either.  I had Lumberjack Goliath come back in with another guy who looked like he was born maybe five weeks ago. They mixed their cement in the balcony and very enthusiastically volunteered to clean up and move furniture much to my relief/delight. They even adjusted the blinds!! Who was I to get in the way? Looking sadly at the ceiling obviously did wonders for me.

A painter finally came in to see our ceiling. He just tsked and tsked and said the other guys had to come back, sand the cement and put ‘white mud’ on it before he could put the paint on the ceiling—which means more time wasted for me. In fact, now that it’s not leaking and patched up, P and I don’t even care anymore about the paint job.

We can pretend it’s abstract art or something. Or we can make up a humorous story about it when we have guests. Oh yes, P was practicing archery and cracked the ceiling…something along those lines. Perhaps throw in a mouse or tarantula into the story, spice it up?

P is finally taking it easy in terms of researching and sending out resumes on account of potential employers being busy during the holiday season. Thus, this weekend we got to have some fun. We found that recreation centers have lots of activities for kids. We went to one on Saturday and Lanes enjoyed face painting (she wanted her face painted like a red cat) and story time with singing. There were also some arts and crafts activities.

Then on Sunday we went to a dinner party to our nice friends’ house in Surrey. Luckily for them, it didn’t snow this time and we came home at 1am (so technically still the next day). Lanes had a whale of a time since one of the guest’s had two children aged 4 and 6 ½ and they were really kind to her and played nicely.

On Monday afternoon we decided to try our luck and book it to Seattle, so there was a mad dash to get Christmas presents for all. We were so tired, we could barely pack. I took lots of medicine since my sister, the PhD who thinks she is an MD, just loves sending people to the doctor. She loves to google symptoms and find lists of illnesses to match them. Itchy throat? Must be scarlet fever. Yeah.

One sneeze and she is on speed dial to set up an appointment with her doctor. The first time P and I came to Seattle, she had decided I really needed a full examination before we decided to have kids, so she got me out of the house in the pretence of going to a Thai restaurant. I am very easy to lure with food.

So I enjoyed my meal and slurped an entire huge glass of Thai iced coffee, which was sinfully and blissfully laden with condensed milk and sugar. Next thing I know, I find myself in a doctor’s office, with all my vitals being scurtinized.

Naturally, my sugar was sky high after my iced coffee, but no, no one wanted to listen to my protests. That was just the beginning of an entire battery of tests and my holiday was really almost ruined.

As I type this I’m stifling my coughs and sneezes. Hopefully my sister is so delighted by our surprise arrival that she is in no mood for getting anyone any medical attention. She looked so shocked when she opened the door, her eyebrows went to the back of her head and she was speechless. For once.

In fact, that’s how my father realized something was up and came running to the door to see if she was ok. It really made his day to see all of us so our trip was well worth it:) So that’s about it for this week. More on our crazy adventures next time…I do have a mystery appointment made for me on Thursday as a ‘Christmas present’. I’ll be hightailing it back to Canada if it’s with a doctor:)