Almost There

 Four more sleeps!  This will be my last blog post until after vacation, life is simply going too fast to be able to promise anything more.  We signed 3 new contracts last week and onboarding a new client is the most amount of work we do in a contract.  We have to fit in a weeks worth of work into the next couple of days so time to dig in.  It was absolutely georgous on Vancouver Island this weekend, sunshine and warmth.  Saturday I drove mom the 2.5 hrs each direction drive to Mill Bay to meet up with her best friend of 25 years who was staying in Victoria.  She met us at a lovely seaside restaurant overlooking the Marina.  She is one of the nicest ladies on the planet and someone I really like so no hardship on my part to be part of it.  Mom has decided until she has her cateract surgery (which keeps getting postponed) she doesn't want to drive, which is something I have been trying to convince her of for a while.  She quit driving long distances a while ago but still drives around town, so this decision is new.  Anyway, I volunteered to make this drive with her when her friend advised she was going to be on Island as she lives several hours away in the interior of BC.   

 People were out boating and kayaking and just enjoying the beautiful day.

I had seafood chowder and a caesar salad - it was very tasty.  The Bridgemans Bistro in Mill Bay if you are ever in the area.

It was a really nice lunch and so nice to see her.  She almost died last fall, had a severe aneurysm on her heart and her local Dr had told her she was too sick to operate and to go home and get ready to die (basically - not in those words).  She is an extremely vibrant woman so said forget that and drove off for a visit with her relatives in another city.  She had a fall in that city so her relatives called an ambulance and took her to one of the best hospitals where her heart was again the cause, but this time a Dr there said she could be operated on and she was almost immediately scheduled for surgery.  She is walking, talking and breathing now due to that Dr.  She has a much better quality of life now that her heart has been fixed.  The message in this is don't always take the advice of only one Dr.  Mom was so happy to see her as she basically thought that she wouldn't see her again ever.

Other than that we have been working 10 hr days, hubby worked all weekend and both of us worked on Sunday but we did manage to fit in a short walk with Buddy.  I have only done about 3000-5000 steps a day for the last week (I feel lazy) and my foot is somewhat better after getting an anti-inflammatory in pill form.  Yesterday I did 9300 steps just from regular life and it feels ok so I am pretty sure I will be fine on my holiday but will continue to put anti-inflammatory ointment on it daily just in case. 

Our bedroom looks like a tornado hit it - we are partially packed but still things to sort out.  I suddenly realized yesterday my very old electrical converter was coming apart.  I had used it with a separate adapter for plugging in things in Europe and it wasn't great but worked.  With only a couple days to go and a town with only one place to buy them (no selection) I looked on amazon and found a super duper converter and adapter in one with USB ports and multiple plug ins.  It wasn't cheap but I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it as we travel so much.  Hubby has amazon prime for the company so I am hoping they live up to their delivery schedule and it will be delivered on Wednesday.  It includes a surge protector as well, super important as this trip we have to take one of the company laptops as have too many irons in the fire business-wise to not have access to it. 

We fly out to Edmonton on Friday then to Amsterdam and on to Rome on Saturday.  All four of us are excited, this trip has taken more planning than any other, primarily because it is 3 countries and 4 of us (Italy, Vatican City and France).  Hopefully all the planning pays off.  I plan to try all sorts of pastas, wines, liquers and desserts in Italy and hope to find a really good crepe place in France. 

See you on the other side mid-May - Arrivederci!