let me be the great scott, tip top, pit stop in your ocean
That lovely stack of papers is my Permanent Resident application, along with all of the supporting documentation, right before I put it in an envelope and shipped it off to the CIC. While on the one hand, it's a relief to be done with it, it's also mildly terrifying to hand the whole thing over to someone else and no longer have any control over the outcome. It's that point where I just have to trust that I've done everything I could to the best of my ability and hope for the best possible result. And given that the processing time was estimated to be about 10 months the last time I checked the website, I really do have to let this one go for now. So yeah, a bit nerve wracking, but I'll just have to wait until I hear something.
Can I just say though, that the CIC's website drives me nuts. It is sometimes difficult to find the information you're looking for, and then when you do find it, you also find at least five contradictory pieces of information. Last weekend I was trying to clarify exactly how I went about paying my application fee, and found so many pages telling me different and/or more complicated things about what I was supposed to do, that my anxiety level instantly spiked and I was quite stressed the rest of the day. Fortunately, though, the agents you get when you call their call center are generally super helpful and friendly and polite, and the one I spoke to on Monday definitely made my life easier. I'm so grateful they have a phone line you can call with questions, because trying to navigate through the website alone makes me feel incompetent at times. Anyway, I paid my fee, gathered everything together, and then had to figure out how to get it to the CIC while Canada Post is on strike (TERRIBLE timing!). But it's done now, and it has been sent out into the world, and with any luck it will do good things for me.
Only four more days of work, which is crazy but also a bit of a relief. I've only got one parent feedback meeting left, which was supposed to happen Thursday, but mom canceled because she was sick, so I'm hoping we can get her in on Monday so I don't have it hanging over the summer. Tuesday's our final staff meeting of the year, and Wednesday is our department potluck at one of the secretary's houses. Which reminds me that I need to a) figure out what I'm baking for that and make sure I have all the necessary ingredients, and b) buy the secretaries some little end-of-the-year thank you gifts this weekend. I think a trip to Chapters is in order. On Tuesday, Becca and I went to the thrift store so she could look for maternity and baby clothes, but we also had to check out their book selection, of course. They actually had some good titles that were in decent condition, so we each snagged a few and decided we'll just lend them to each other after we read them. I got four books, three of which were nice thick hardcovers, the kind that would easily be $30 new, for $13 TOTAL. I win! Tonight, Brad and I are going to the drive-in, which I'm excited about, because we haven't been to one in at least a year or longer, and we've never been to one around here at all.
Hmm, I really thought there was something else I wanted to write about today, but I can't think of it now. Have another picture, then:
Enjoy your weekends, kids!