All about Sears

@Mom's reply: Closest Zellers is in Edmonton somewhere, not worth the drive, and I'm not eager to pay for home delivery, either.

Definitely unable to make trip to Edmonton to shop. Between Chris planning to use most of his vacation/PLD days for when the baby arrives, the roads, my just starting this job, and not wanting to wait too long to get stuff set up*, it's just not a possibility. Plus we aren't exactly eager to do too much travelling. Glad to go to Cold Lake in January (mental note: get Chris to call and book vacation today so we CAN go to Cold Lake in January) but other than that, not eager at all. I'm already getting quite uncomfortable staying in one position too long, so avoiding driving/riding in car is one of my priorities.

(*Still have this paranoid voice in the back of my head telling me to get ready EARLY... Trying to block it out, but I figure that being ready early can only make the voice shut up, and it would be better than being late, anyway.)

@Mom's reply#2: The crib was 'available' when the lady ordered it over the phone, and she's IN their system ordering it. So, I'm guessing it takes a few days for the order to process, and then they finally find out it's 'unavailable'. I don't know how their system works, but it's obviously flawed.

OH, AND THEY CHARGED MY CC FOR THE 2ND CRIB ALREADY SO I HAVE TO CALL TO GET THEM TO REFUND IT. Even though the crib is 'unavailable,' they charged my CC.

I still can't believe they refused to refund Grandma's money. If I was Grandma, I'd be on the phone arguing until they got sick of me wasting their time and just gave in. (I think that is partially what happened when I called about the crib, they were unwilling to do anything about it, and I continued to argue, and - in my head - showed no signs of backing down. I would have been on the phone with them all afternoon. I started out nice, but got pissed off fairly quick, especially when the lady kept interrupting me. I ended up yelling at her to stop interrupting me and told her it's very rude to interrupt their customers. Her reply: "Are you done?" At which point I lost it again and asked to speak to her manager who was, conveniently, not there.)

UNBELIEVEABLE.

Anyway, did you actually order it, or just get to the point of ordering it and then cancel the order?

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We set up the mis-delivered crib, anyway. It was going to be very difficult to move that box now that the super strong straps were cut, and we would have had to sometime this week - it was laying in our kitchen. 6 feet by 5 feet of YOU HAVE NO WALKING SPACE. So we said screw this crap, we didn't want to bother 'picking out' another one, to probably have the same thing happen, so we just decided to keep this one. It is nice, I was worried it would be too 'feminine' with the curves on it, but it's for a baby. And it's white. How girly could it be?

After we set it up, I kept crying, the realization that we're that much closer to the baby coming. The CRIB is set up.

It's monumental to me. A HUGE step. Only thing huger would be the baby coming. (So far, that's my thought process, may change after the rest of the room is more set up.)

The crib looks perfect. I think we may have been meant to have this one, the other one would have looked a lot more 'box-y' and I don't think would have suited the room quite as well.

I'm thinking about going to pick up the mattress today, although am not sure how much it weighs, so don't know if I should be packing it around myself. Chris works (if he's lucky) until 2, and I start working at 2, until 6. The sears store here closes at 5:30. SOL.
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There is still tons of things I wanted to buy from Sears, but after what I've been told about what Grandma went through, and my own personal hell dealing with them, I'm not too eager.

Might file a complaint with their service department, this is getting to be ass-backwards, and they deserve to know. (Wondering if they'll try to make us pay for the crib we received since we're keeping it? It's regular retail is $75 more than the one we ordered. I would be on the phone with them for WEEKS if I had to, to deal with THAT. You want to see an angry pregnant woman? Wait until Sears screws up more shit for me...)

Going to call them right now to get them to refund my money for the crib we won't be getting.

(In other news, first day at work was great, remembered most everything, some stuff still questionable, but since they changed all of the tobacco rules and lottery machine, it's to be expected.)

Feeling so much better

 I feel about 1000% better. I haven't done specific calculations, but that is my guesstimate. It may even be as high as 3000%.

I worked hard yesterday, staying up way later than usual, to write my resignation letter(s)* and get a few things done, including bringing said resignation letter to my now-ex-workplace and delivering it to my ex-bosses.

*Because of the incident that occurred on my last shift - tuesday night - I felt compelled to let the VP of operations and Head Office know about it. I may post more specific details. Not sure. Since none of my coworkers from there knew I have a blog, nor is it listed on my facebook (for a long time now) I don't fear they will read it, I just am unsure whether or not to post about it. Yet.

There was so much I wanted to say, so much that SHOULD be said, but I kept it to the most recent and important issues, because a 14 page resignation letter would do nothing but make me look like I complain.

I just feel I saw exactly how they could do a lot of things better. My coworkers usually agreed, and complained about doing things in the same, inefficient stupid ways.

YET, when I would suggest something to my ex-bosses, they would leave me a note saying they would 'consider' it, and that would be the end of that.

If I had any issues with something that wasn't supposed to be happening, or people not doing their jobs, I would leave a note to the bosses letting them know about it, presuming they would actually do something about it.

NOPE. WARNING: VENTING ABOUT TO OCCUR!!!

So, during one particular shift I came into work and found this:

- paperwork all over the front desk counter, unsorted, unfiled, unorganized, for no reason other than laziness.
- staff's personal dishes left on the f/d counter, including plates and cutlery, mugs, glasses, and garbage and half eaten chinese food on them.
- the continental breakfast, which is supposed to be re-stocked by the person who puts it all away 11 hours before my shift started, almost empty.
- the counter where the breakfast is put out, covered in crumbs, juice and milk spills, coffee and sugar spills, dirty dishes, and food bits that were obviously from the person who was on shift before me having ordered in chinese food, and serving it to themselves on that counter. (There was also a fortune cookie left there. I did not read it, although I am guessing it might have said "you will put in extra effort today.")
- The sinks, both in the continental area, where guests see it, and in the kitchen, had obviously had crumbs and cereal dumped into them, and then juice and coffee and hot chocolate on top. And not rinsed. It was disgusting. It looked like someone had vomited in the sinks. I was annoyed when I saw the first one, disgusted when I saw the second one. The second one was, of course, a double sink, too.
- The muffin tins that only nightshift uses to make muffins, had not been cleaned, again. This was my first night back after 4 off, and the only other person that works night shifts, thinks that when the muffins leave that ring of dried batter around the top of the ring, and spilled bits, and when she tears them out of their tins and it leaves a 2 inch chunk of muffin on the tin, putting them in the dishwasher, to be moistened, and then stacking them one on top of another, is appropriate cleanliness. (My routine was to soak the pans in a sink of hot water, use a scrubby to get rid of all of the muffin bits & rings, and then put them in the dishwasher to get the grease off - premade batter = more than 14g fat/muffin.) Needless to say, I was pissed to have to wash the soggy chunks and dried rings of batter before I could make muffins that night.
- There was 3 buspans with random bits of grossness in them that should have been cleaned. Very similar to the sinks, but not dry, and add cereal & raisin bits, stir sticks, and sugar and jam packets.
- Add to the buspans, a bunch of dirty dishes. ABout 4 loads worth.
- garbages behind the front desk and in the continental area overflowing with crap. Supposed to be emptied every shift/when half full, respectively.

It has been over a month, and I don't recall if there was anything else, although I am certain there was.

See, if there was one or two of the above, I could handle it, but considering it appears everyone left all of their regular duties from the 3 8-hour shifts previous to mine for me to do, I was pissed off.

I knew if I left a note for my bosses, nothing would happen. I was too angry to just sit back and take it, I had had enough of people leaving stuff for me, just because they knew that I am not one of those people who can just leave it for someone else. Besides, I would only leave it for someone else, if they had done it, and were coming in RIGHT after me, but that NEVER happens here, there's always someone in between. So, not fair.

I wrote every single thing in the communication book, and my feelings about it contiuously happening to me. Everyone who read those pages would easily have been able to say, okay so Person#1 was working the night before, she should have cleaned the muffins tins, Person #2 was working the mornig shift, should have restocked and cleaned the breakfast stuff, and done as many dishes as she could have. Person # 3 should have done this and that...

and so on.

At the end of the notes I made, I added a personal opinion about how it doesn't just boil down to pure laziness, but about respect for your coworkers. I said that they can't leave stuff like that for me to do just because they know I will do it. I mentioned that they should consider how I ALWAYS left everything clean, stocked and organized for them. No dirty dishes, breakfast set up with plenty of coffee made so that they wouldn't have to make any for awhile. Everything overly stocked so that they could not have to check it for awhile. Counters clean. No papers all over. No garbage in the bins, no garbage on the counters... 

There was never any proof that I ate AT ALL during my shifts, my personally-used dishes were always cleaned and put away.

Oh, and I NEVER put away ANY dishes that were dirty.

*I'd like to mention that I understand the kind of mess that was left for me could be excused IF THEY WERE BUSY. The had about 15 people in the hotel the night before, which is EXTREMELY slow, and means that they would have had nothing to do. There was 3 check in's during the shift before me, again, extremely slow, so no excuses AT ALL for any of them.

Anyway, apparently my venting note in the book pissed off my bosses, because the next day there was a note in there saying something about how they were the bosses and they should be the ones to tell everyone what to do. F*cking retarded. I was tempted to call them EVERY SINGLE TIME there was something left for me, or just leave it with a note for the bosses. I get pissed, I don't see action or I get treated like I am just complaining for the sake of it, and then I get vengeful. Very hard for me to deal with that, and it doesn't usually last long anyway, I end up doing everything the same way the next night. I JUST CAN'T DO WHAT THEY DO.

I REALLY wanted to start leaving notes in that book detailing every little thing I did during my shift that should have been done before I got there.

And the bosses who never actually do anything also felt compelled to make us all fill out this retarded survey. "Because everyone around here seems to think that they know how everyone else is supposed to do their job, we want to make sure that everyone DOES know how to do their job." Duh. Train them better, or tell them if other people are complaining about things. If they leave shit, tell them to stop. Effing duh. (Not management material, and that was strongly proved during the incident on my last shift.)

Then after all of the surveys were completed, they photocopied them all for each of us so we could see each other's answers, "blacking" out the names (it was obvious, and easy to still see the names anyway.) and filled in one with their answers. Then they left a note saying they would be getting together with each of us to go over what we'd answered. NEVER FOLLOWED UP.

The most pathetic thing about the survey was the way they felt the need to 'reassure themselves' that they were indeed the bosses, which proved to us all even more that they have no clue what is going on: "Question 16 (yes, there was 16 of these.) Who are the bosses and get to tell everyone what to do?"

Of course everyone answered that they were the bosses. No one meant it. No one respects them. I feel bad for the people who still work there. Not one of the front desk staff want to be there anymore, and it's because the bosses are doing STUPID things. They want us to do things the most inefficient ways possible, JUST shy of not doing them at all.

Some of the employees stick it out because it's an easy job. They get free food - the continental breakfast. Free access to the pool, if it ever gets done, and the gym. Cheap hotel rooms if/when they need them. They get to sit on their butt and do nothing. For most of their day. AND if they don't do something right, no one there cares anymore, because it's so obvious that the bosses do a lot of things worse.

So glad I am done there. So glad I am never going back. I *may* have considered it, before the afore-mentioned-many-times-incident.

Put it this way: Would you want to go back to a job where the boss came in to deal with a problem drunk, treated you like shit, and then after making the problem A LOT WORSE, blamed it on you and said very rudely on his way out the door: "Thanks for that."?

I didn't think so.

</venting>

(Last note about the above. I've sent details of the incident and my concerns for other employees, some of which I KNOW have been treated similarly, to the VP of operations, and head office. The BBB doesn't handle employer/employee disputes, and after looking up info on the labour board's website, it appears that the only grievances you can file with them are monetary based, if the company owes you vacation pay, for example. Would LOVE to send in a grievance somewhere about the conditions of my leaving this job, but don't think there's anywhere else to do it?)

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Whew. Last time I am going to even bother thinking about that. Have a headache now. (Might also be because I haven't eaten much this morning.)

Onto better news: I'm huge! Well, not really, I guess, but it sure feels like it.

I already have to be very careful how I turn over in bed, 3 weeks ago, I pulled some abdominal muscles turning over the way I used to: basically whipping my body up off the bed and flipping. Not anymore. Now I scooch over, slowly roll or pull myself over, and then scooch to my spot, because at this point I am usually right up against Chris (heat factory) or the edge of the bed (dangerous).

:) I've noticed a definite change in body temperature, too, especially at night. Whew. Still need to wear socks and sometimes slippers during the day at home, but it's been awhile since I've needed my usual fall/winter/spring get up for hanging out in the house: socks, slippers, pants, t-shirt, sweater, blanket*. Yup. All of that. And even then, I am usually still cold. PLUS, this is with the heat set at an unreasonble 20 or 21. (I know, I know...)

Now, I'm pretty comfy in pants, socks, t-shirt*. At night, when I used to need two blankets, I find myself kicking them off and keeping them off for most of the night. And cuddling with the heat factory next to me? Not for more than 5 minutes, before we both get uncomfortable and feel gross!

*Yes, underthings, too.

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The COOLEST part of being pregnant so far: being able to see the kicks. I never knew about that. Hell, they should put that on the front page of pregnancy books: "You will be able to see the kicks from the outside. WARNING: pregnancy may make you lay and stare at your belly like an idiot for hours each day."

It is so amazing, and if I have something resting up sort of against my belly, like my laptop sometimes, the baby moves the whole thing. I told Chris about it, and then when it happened, told him to stare at my laptop for a few minutes. He laughed his butt off.

The weirdest part (or one of several) has got to be seeing my heart beat through my chest and sometimes belly. I know there's a lot of extra blood in my system, and my heart is pounding harder than it ever has had to, but geez. It's little creepy to me. Sort of.

I laid back to stretch my back about halfway through this post and looked at my belly. Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch.... weird...

____

Anyway, I need food, so I am going to end this abruptly.

Very, very abruptly.

:)

23 weeks

23 weeks, originally uploaded by theanykey.

I sometimes still wonder if it's real.

According to the baby books, a week ago the baby would have weighed at approximately 1 pound, and in 3 weeks (4 weeks span) the baby will DOUBLE his weight.

Wow.

Glad the rest of us can't do that. (I think.)

Plus, that explains why I have spent my days off SLEEPING and EATING. And laying around with absolutely no energy...

Instead of taking some of the 300 things off of my list of things to do. (Literally. But it's a VERY detailed list. IE: - Clean Baby's dresser (2nd hand from unknown people) - Move Baby's dresser to spot in room - fold and put away Baby Clothes. There's plenty more. Only about 1/4 of it is baby-related, unless you count cleaning the table/kitchen/addition/extra room that's full of boxes/ living room baby-related.)

Nesting?

 I've read that the 'nesting' instinct is primarily coined for the sudden impulse that some pregnant women will get in the week or so before she goes into labour, to clean, to paint, to organize and re-organize.

Maybe what I'm doing is that, maybe it's just a desire to organize the house, but either way, I'm calling it nesting.

I have a STRONG urge to get the baby's room ready NOW. I still have 4 months to go, but in the back of my head is a little pregnant version of me, saying "It will go by SOOO quick, and you might not feel like doing some stuff later. DO IT NOW."

I also have an urge to clean up and organize the rest of the house. Just generally sick of boxes and STUFF being everywhere. Today, we had a big step taken care of. We had some stuff we weren't going to bother to sell, but was still useable by anyone else, and tried to offer it to people via Freecycle. After living with this stuff in our house for a few more weeks with zero interest, finally called the local Neighbour Link. (Group of Churches that work together to pick up donated furniture/appliances/random other stuff and they distribute it to people in need. We've given them stuff before, and they are very nice people, and usually my first thought when we have stuff we no longer want. Depending on what it is, I try Freecycle first. Gotten a lot of stuff via Freecycle people, and like to offer them what we have, in case they can use it.)

All random tangents aside, I'm starting to lose the battle with the little version of me in my head...

She's starting to drive me crazy. I guess it's not so bad, I can block her out fairly well, but for the most part... I still find myself wishing I had another 24 hours each day. (Some days, for sleeeeeeep.)

Going to resist the urge to fold the little tiny baby blankets/ towels in the dryer, and go back to bed.

Another cool encounter (?)

At our most recent ultrasound, I got to see the coolest thing I've ever seen: my baby do a full kick. It was amazing, and it's an experience I will never forget.

I had a dream the other night about the baby.

In my dream, I went 'inside myself' and saw the baby's face. I spent a few moments just being with the baby, and stroked his/her face with my index finger.

It didn't feel like a dream, it was very vivid, felt very real, and I woke up feeling much more connected to the baby.

Just thinking about it now makes me quite emotional, and I'm getting all teary-eyed.

I don't know what to think about it, though. Part of me wants to believe it's real, and part of me feels it was just a vivid dream.

Any input?

Update: Forcing the annoying scientific 'everything-must-be-proven-or-make-sense-in-some-way" part of me to go away, I believe that I met the baby, that I stroked his/her face with a spiritual representation of my finger or something like that.

Either way, the thought of it leaves me feeling a lot happier than if I believed it was just a dream. :)

Not much going on

Have the next ultrasound scheduled for the 24th. Am eager and impatient! :)

Can't wait to get anther view of the baby, and am very excited to find out the gender. The excitement went away after the first one revealed nothing, and didn't come back until the next appointment was booked. Now I'm going crazy about it again!


Went to the doctor today, and found out I am still big - in the baby area - for how far along I am. (Was told that last time, too.) Doc said it's a good thing, though, so I am happy!  

Everything else was good, too, except I have carpal tunnel in my right hand - doc says pregnancy related. I get to buy a splint to wear at night, and need to cut back on computer use at work! Not sure what I will do with the 7 hours of nothing to do, but will try to find something... I also have to watch my other wrist, it might occur there if I overcompensate.

I don't think it is that bad, yet, just enough to be noticeable, so I should be able to keep it from getting worse, and the doctor said it should go away after the baby is born.
: )

20w4d

20 weeks and 4 days.

:) Not the most flattering picture of me, but I had to balance the camera on two mandarin orange boxes on top of a chair to get the picture... (Chris takes blurry pics)

And the little bump at the top of my belly is what I am calling the baby's first blanket. A little extra insulation from the cold...

: )

Oh yeah

 
 
And the baby kicked when Chris put his head on my belly to listen - he heard a thud, it was cool! (I wish I could listen!!! I guess I get to feel it way more, but still!! Need to try it with a stethoscope next time I am at the doctor's!)
 
: ) Now we're just waiting for Chris to be able to FEEL the kicks, too. There have been a lot of strong ones, the baby is trying!!!
 
Soon enough!

 
 
 

Ultrasound #3

YAY! We get to go for another ultrasound!

I called the doctor's office and the hospital and then the doctor's office again, and basically the long and the short of it is we're getting the second ultrasound! Just waiting for the call from the hospital to make the appointment! YAY!!!

HOPING that they call today, but it doesn't look like it, it's already past 4:15 p.m.

And I should go to bed... only got three hours of sleep so far...

:) Will definitely post when I know when the ultrasound is.

Haven't posted in awhile

 
Again. Oh well, it's my blog and I'll update as I see fit (or remember!)
 
I have to say that the experience of going for an ultrasound was one of the most amazing I've done in a long time.
 
I had to have some upper abdominal pictures taken as well as the baby scan, so I was told not to eat or drink anything after midnight the night before.
 
(I cheated - kept drinking until 2 and had a yogurt at about 2:30 - but I figured that liquid-y stuff would be mostly cleared in 6 hours, so whatever)
 
Either way, the first thing the tech asked me was if I had a full bladder, to which I replied the instructions I'd been given. She said I needed a full bladder for the baby scan so I had to chug a bunch of water - almost a full bottle - that I had brought with me. : )
 
The upper abdominal scan was interesting, she was much more thorough than I remember the techs in Cold Lake being (have had to do this several times - checking on the 'hemangiomas' on my liver...) and involved a LOT of holding deep breaths and pushing out on my stomach and holding that.
 
I imagine between the sudden water intake, the plenty of deep breathing and the weird stomach muscle exercise, the baby must have reacted to SOMETHING we had done, because when the tech went to do the baby scan, the baby was VERY active.
 
The tech mentioned at one point that ours was one of the most active that she'd ever seen! I don't know if the baby is always that active, or if it was a result of the above, but either way, it made it difficult for her to get clear pictures of the baby, and she said we'd be needing another scan, to get good pictures of the heart and the head/face. That was excellent news for me, since she was unable to get a clear gender determination, and said she didn't know if it was a boy or girl.
 
(The tech definitely seemed quite skilled, and it didn't take very long for her to get all of the abdominal pictures she needed, so I don't think it's due to inexperience or anything like that. She apologized and said that our baby was just too active during this scan!)
 
I am still so excited to find out if it is a boy or a girl, and my original instinct was thrown off last week by a dream I'd had.
 
During my shifts at work, I have plenty of time to look up all kinds of things online, and most has been about baby stuff. I try to avoid stuff like ebay (addictive) and information related to the delivery/complications (for now - a little too scary, and I end up worrying needlessly, whatever will happen, will happen regardless...).
 
During a shift last week, I stumbled across this article/quiz thing, and did it for the fun of it:
 
http://pregnancy.about.com/od/boyorgirl/a/quizboygirl.htm
 
Some of my answers were pure guessing, for example: I don't know yet if I am carrying high or low, and either way the results were surprising.
 
I've felt right from the beginning that it was a girl, and there have been several things making me question my original instinct.
 
First, almost every piece of clothing we've gotten that is obviously gender specific (pink and purple vs blue and firetrucks) is for girls. (Murphy's law makes me think there's no way we'll have a girl if we ALREADY have lots of girl stuff)
 
Second, certain people who I believe to be very instinctual/ psychic even, say it will be a boy. (I know that they could be wrong, too, but STILL.)
 
Third, my Mom has already bought girly clothing...
 
Fourth, the Chinese calendar thing says the baby will be a boy, whether you use the basic one:
 
http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Chinese-conception-gender-chart-9.htm
 
or the one you need to figure out your Chinese age and the Chinese lunar month at time of conception.
 
http://www.babyhopes.com/pages.php?pageid=11
 
Fifth, the quiz I mentioned above said it will be a boy.
 
Sixth, there's my dream. After my shift during which I took the quiz, I had a dream that we went for the ultrasound and discovered the baby was a boy. (We were also adopting a 3 year old boy in the dream at this same point in the pregnancy for reasons unknown, but that part of the dream was less 'intense' than the ultrasound part.)
 
I realize the dream could have been a direct result of having taken that quiz, or just my minds way of screwing with me...

Then there's just this feeling I have that I may not be having a girl. I don't know if all of this is coming up in my head because the ultrasound was coming up quickly, or just maybe I felt I needed to be more prepared in the event that they baby turns out to be a boy, when Chris and I both felt strongly that it is a girl.
 
Either way, I'll just be happy if our baby is healthy, (I know, standard answer, but it's true) and can't wait to meet the little person growing inside of me.
 
Our most recent ultrasound picture has made me realize all over again that I. Am. Going. To. Be. A. Parent. and I've begun thinking about a lot of things a little different. Nothing specific comes to mind now that I am writing about it, but my point of view has definitely shifted, and I am doing a lot more thinking about everything. I keep looking at the picture, and thinking to myself that that is my baby, my child. I am going to be a Mom. (If I'm not already, not sure exactly how that's classified. I already feel like a Mom, especially since the point of view change, but am assuming I will continue to feel more and more like a Mom as the months go by. I imagine that I will one day look at my 5 year old and go "Holy Crap, I am a parent!")
 
Regardless of all of that, the moment during the ultrasound that is permanently imprinted in my head was the first picture that showed up when the technician put the scanner on my belly. Unfortunately, Chris wasn't in the room during most of the appointment, they bring in the Father/Family members at the very last moment to show them the baby. It was an amazing moment, and I really wish Chris had been able to see it too.
 
A perfect and very detailed side view of the baby's full leg, bent for just a moment, and then a quick "KICK". It was amazing to see the baby kick, and feel it at the same time! It surprised the technician, I don't think she was expecting it.
 
I think about that moment several times a day, keep picturing the tiny leg, little muscles and bones, kicking away...
 
: )