Transfer Talk

Okay, so lets talk a little more about the transfer.

We weren’t looking to move necessarily. The town we are in now is extremely small and the detachment itself has been understaffed a majority of the time we’ve been here however that has allowed G to work a lot of overtime – and I really believe we would not be in the position we are today (debt paid off, good emergency fund, etc). Also, I have a secure and excellent job, which isn’t easy to get in a small town where they know for a fact one day I’m going to move because of what my husband does for a living. Regardless, a really good opportunity came up for G and he was offered a traffic division position in a small town. This is what G wants to do, his career path within the RCMP needs him in a traffic unit so he gains more experience and can more easily get approved for specific courses and training. I think the total conversation lasted about a minute before I told him I was on board and that I thought he should accept, lol.

We’ve been looking at the town and it’s really cute. Still small town Saskatchewan, which I enjoy but a lot closer to Saskatoon and some other smaller cities with proper grocery shopping. It’s going to be very convenient for us and we can still be a single car (paid off car, I should add :P) family without any issues. G has already talked to his new Sergeant to see what the shift will be like and they are niiiiccee. I’m actually jealous. They are longer shifts but his rotation will only have him working max four days in a row with a minimum of two days off in between shifts (mostly three days off though). The only thing that will be different is there won’t be as much overtime. However, there are opportunities if G wanted on his days off to do prisoner transports in Saskatoon. G said he would be totally up for since it’s easy money and you don’t have to do any extra files lol. So there is hustling opportunity and my husband is a hustler.

So, what about me?

Yeah! What about me, this is MY blog afterall :P First of all, this life is not for everyone. The Force does not care about the spouses job, what is good for families (moves in the middle of a school year), a lot of spouses have given up careers to follow their significant other around Canada. I understood this 100% going in. I was there the day he signed the papers accepting their offer and the woman who was there said "You understand we can sent you anywhere in Canada?" and Gabe said he understood and then she said "Have you looked at a map of Canada?". I would never hold anything related to his job against my husband, because many of these things are out of his control. However, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck. Like I said, I have been so grateful for how open and accepting the Credit Union I currently work for has been to me. I mean I scared my dog when I got the job offer and cried when they gave me a raise (haha lame). This mindset did not change last Friday when I told my manger what was going on. I went into her office after letting her know I needed to talk to her in private and just flat out no bullshit told her Gabe got his transfer notice. She said they knew this would happen one day, but didn’t expect it so soon and said it was going to be really difficult to replace me. I let her know we still have to sell our house and get all that stuff done so it’s not my notice or anything but I want to be open and honest about what is going on since it’s not my intension to screw anyone over. She appreciated that, lol. Now one thing I haven’t mentioned was the post that we got was at the top of our posting list (members need to have a list on file of places they would wish to go too) for a reason. Not only because of the traffic division for G but because about 15mins away, just up the highway, the Credit Union I work for has a branch. I let her know the location and my willingness to stay with the company – even if it’s just as casual as I don’t expect the same position/hours I have now. She said she would talk to the retail manger but she is sure that they wouldn’t deny an offer from someone that is fully trained. So I left her office feeling extremely positive. A few minutes later she called me back in and said that the retail manager was totally on board and understood that there isn’t a set in stone timeline for this transition to happen. But then she had a little pause and said “I can’t go into details, but there may be an opportunity at the beginning of next year that would work out perfectly with your move. –Insert managers name- doesn’t want to loose me”. Then gave me a very big smile. Eeeeeeee! Holy crap I couldn’t stop smiling all day. I mean honestly, even if it doesn’t work out just working the casual is going to be okay but how sick would something more be?! I’m not counting my chickens but yay!

So how about that for a perfect move? For both G & I. Now if only all future moves are going to be this lucky, lol.

- M

Update: Raise, Transfer, Vacation & Surgery

Things have gotten a tiny bit busy around here (nervous laughter)… and I’m really surprised how well I’m handling everything. I’m not sure where I'm going with this post so I’m just going to start, sorry in advance if things get a bit jumpy.

We had an amazing time in Vegas, more so then I thought we would! We stayed at The Signature at the MGM and felt like royalty. I was so comfortable and there was a Jacuzzi tub – which was needed after walking up and down the Strip all day. The first day we got there we rented a car from the airport and drove to Red Rock Canyon where we hiked until evening. Other things we did: helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon & hike on Eagle Point. As someone who lives in very flat Saskatchewan seeing something like the Grand Canyon really takes my breath away. I’m surprised how well I did riding the helicopter but I think I was so distracted by the view to get nervous, lol. The tour we choose had us land at the bottom of the canyon for pictures and a quick picnic of snacks and champagne then flew to the top of the canyon for two hours of exploring. We could have gone on that glass walkway but we decided to spend the whole time up at Eagle Point and hike to the top – which I’m definitely glad we did. G also went on an air combat school flight, which was expensive but he really enjoyed it. I also shopped, a lot. I had been saving all my personal spending money, birthday money, etc for this trip and haven’t bought any clothes since back in the Spring. All the money I had saved up was converted to USD so it really forced me to make sure what I was buying was something I really loved and fit good. When I came home and started putting everything away in my closet I told myself it was going to be one-in-one-out, it actually ended up being more like one-in-two-out. The pile of donations keeps growing. Back to Vegas talk – we did gamble. We had a specific amount set aside that was our gamble money – and the rule was: once it was gone we don't gamble anymore. Turns out luck was on our side and with a nice 0, 00 split bet on Roulette we ended up leaving Vegas having doubled our money! Definitely glad we set limits though, we would watch some of the higher betting tables and I died a little inside… But what brought back to life by the food. More specifically the avocadoes, they were so fresh! By the time they make it to our grocery store up here (if they can even get them in) they really just cannot compare. We went to some fancier restaurants, some cheap ones, sometimes even cooking at the hotel (there was a kitchen in the hotel room), and we went to one buffet. The food and helicopter tour were definitely my favorites. We also did a couple of shows: one Cirque du Soleil, Penn and Teller (we got to meet them after the show too! So cool) and then had tickets to see the Red Bull Air Races (can you tell my husband likes planes? lol). Then the last day we rented a car again and drove out to the Houver Dam – what an amazing thing to see in real life. We had a really really fun time and we would definitely go again.

Giant drop right below my feet

My very unfortunate sunburn...  

We were happy to get home to our dog though. The day after we got back from our vacation, I went straight back to work and G took Mocha to the vet for her surgery. Everything went extremely well, even while healing she’s had no complications. The first few nights were hard for me. I would get upset and question if we did the right thing or not but as the days went on and she was taken off her pain medication she become more and more like herself. She even went into her toy bin the other day and got a few toys out for us to play with her, she hadn’t done that in such a long time! The vet called about two weeks afterwards and said that the lab results came back on her eyes and one eye lens had completely burst, which would have been extremely painful and that the other eye the retina was becoming detached and they same thing would have happened eventually. That news made me feel a lot better about the surgery. Around Hallowe’en I called her my Franken-puppy. <3

Recovery <3

Now for the big news! Last week G got his transfer notice, we had a hunch it was coming but I didn’t expect it this soon or for things to happen so fast! I’m really glad I’ve spent the summer declutter and organizing. I think it’s definitely going to make this progress go a lot smoother. Today we signed up with the relocation company so I’ve spent a good portion of the day reading their different help guides. We will have an actual meeting with our representative soon, I told G it was really important to me that I be there, so we will have to work it around my work schedule and his. We are really pleased with the town we got transferred too, although I’ll miss this one. I’m going to write a more detailed post once we get more information – as we literarily just found out that it got finalized. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time! This will be our first transfer and I’ve heard some horror stories from some of the other force spouses. I’m just going to try to keep a level head and make sure I understand everything related to this entire process. I’m going to be the annoying girl asking a million questions, lol. I’m sure our rep is going to love me :P

Gabe got his yearly salary raise, even though he is way over that amount as it stands right now with all the overtime he works. Nice though because at the new posting there may not be as much overtime. Oh! And we finally got his LaRonge expenses paid out today. $1300ish deposited into our account. Yay! Only took since July…

Okay, expect more random posts in the future. My mind is going a mile a minute with everything going on.

- M

PS: We are still going to be in Saskatchewan - so I won't have to change my blog name, haha