Exactly one month ago my grandmother did one of, if not the hardest thing she ever had to do in her life. I would have to say it was probably the hardest thing I have ever been a part of doing as well. We put my grandfather into a long term care facility. He had been suffering from dementia over the last couple years. But the last few months his appetite had been almost non existent and he was becoming a lot of work for my grandmother. We were very proud of her, because she made the decision selflessly, she knew she could no longer give him the care that he needed.

As power of attorney for my grandmother, I was closely involved with helping her over the last couple years. Unfortunately, we were too late in getting my grandfather's power of attorney done. Which is one of the reasons for my blog today. I wanted to share my experience in the last few months, but also to encourage everyone to take care of their own will, power of attorney and health directives. My husband and I have had one done since our eldest was a little girl, but even we have realized it is not detailed enough and will be revising them.

A week ago today my grandfather passed away. He was the second grandfather that I have lost. My grandmother's first husband, my blood related grandfather passed away over 24 years ago. Even though I loved him dearly, I was only 15 years old. I didn't get an opportunity to say Good bye, but nor did a lot of my family. He was in the hospital when he passed away. As a teenager it was a difficult time but as an adult it was much different. Perhaps because I understand life more than I did as a child. Perhaps because as an adult realizing how important it is to make the most out of every day. I am not sure why this death has hit me harder. Until now I really haven't had a lot of experience with death. Perhaps it was more to do with sharing in his final days with the rest of our family. 

When we put my grandfather into the long term care facility, he seemed to be doing ok. Kin Village in Tsawwassen is a fabulous facility and all the nurses and care aid workers were amazing from day one. They loved his gentle and kind nature. Which was good to hear, because the dementia had brought out an angry, frustrated side to him. Which is very typical in dementia patients. They tend to take it out on those closest to them. Likely because my grandmother was with him all the time, she felt the brunt of it. She did her very best to go with it and not let it get to her. But she's only human and I am sure there were times that took its toll on her dearly.

Then almost 2 weeks ago he took a turn for the worse. The family was called in because his condition changed so drastically they knew he was near the end. In fact by the beginning of last week when he had made it through the weekend they weren't the only ones surprised. My grandfather was 91 years old and a veteran. He led a long, hard life and I think because of how he lived he was always a fighter. This held true for him until the end. He adored my grandmother and he worried even in his lucid moments of her well being. He just couldn't let her go....

So, from the moment we were all warned this was the end, as a family we decided he would not be alone at all. We did not want him to die alone. Nobody should die alone. It was at that point that I was thankful my grandmother had made the decision to put him into a care home. If he had been in a hospital we would not have been able to sit vigil with him for 5 days and nights taking turns sitting with him, calming him...just being with him. There is no way of knowing just how much he was aware of during those last days, but I would like to think that he knew we were all there. On the Sunday, he seemed to say good bye to all of us. We honestly didn't expect him to make the night. That was probably the first time I cried. Seeing him say good bye to one of my cousins and not letting her go right away. I just couldn't handle the emotions surrounding that moment. But honoured to have shared the moment.

On the Tuesday it was our turn to sit with him through the night. My husband mentioned that he was honoured to be a part of this process. My uncle thought he was wrong and that it was more of a privilege. I have to agree with both of them. It was an honour to have shared so many touching moments with all of the family during this process, to share little moments with my grandfather whether he was aware of them or not. But it was also a privilege to be there in his final days. Again something we would not have had the privilege of doing had he been in a hospital. I was also very proud of our family stepping up and coming out after work everyday. Helping keep my grandmother or one of us company so that others could take a break. The nurses and workers were also very impressed to see all the support and love for my grandfather. My grandmothers children and grandchildren truly became his family.

For all those that know me, I am a very emotional person. I can be found crying at just about anything including a TV commercial. :)
During this process, I did my best to be strong for my family, for my grandmother. Although there were a few moments where I just couldn't help but tear up. One of which brought tears to my eyes a number of times....My aunt managed to snap a photo of a tender moment between my grandparents and when she showed it to him he said "Now that's True Love". Their love for each other was evident right up until the end as her gentle voice and soothing touch would help calm him as his body was failing. The night we stayed over I got another glimpse of that as he no longer realized who was with him and when I tried to calm him down, he would kiss my hand and ask for a kiss thinking I was my grandmother. I almost felt guilty at sharing this moment with him. I know a few of us did and we all were touched by the tenderness and love being shared.

The above photo shows a glimpse of who my grandfather was. He was a hard working man, a creator, a fixer. He was a quiet, gentle, loving man. He was a religious man, he believed in his faith quite strongly and shared all of his qualities dearly with the woman that he loved. I am proud to have gotten to know him. He was the only grandfather my children grew to know and love....I thank him for giving us that. But most of all....

Thank you Grampa Jim for giving my grandmother 17 good years of love and happiness. You will be dearly missed.... We love you!

Happy Mother's Day from all of us at the Bettina Reid Group!

One day is truly not enough to recognize all the wonderful and amazing things Moms do! 

This past weekend my husband and I were looking for something different for lunch and have been wanting to try Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria  and we were more than happy that we did. 

Ever since moving here from Ontario 9 years ago, the one thing we have been missing is a good pizza made in an oven...not cranked out on a conveyor belt. We had never seen pizza made on a conveyor belt before. Growing up next door to Italians most of my childhood I can just imagine my friends Italian Mamas cringing at the thought of pizza being made that way.

We have heard of a few places in Vancouver that use real ovens of some sort...but unless we are heading into the city that doesn't help us on this side of the bridge. Well look no further when you are looking for pizza you must try Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria 

The last time we had a pizza this good was when we visited Grimaldi's in Brooklyn New York a few years ago. Grimaldi's is known worldwide for their pizza. So much so, like us and everyone else that visits you must wait in line just to get in...from open to close...that is how good they are! I am pretty sure we waited an hour just for the experience and to say we did it. But it was well worth the wait.

A Canadian owned company trained in the art of making Neapolitan Pizzas. They import their 00 Caputo flour and tomatoes straight from Italy and are not shy to tell you so when greeted at your table. Then choose from one of their designed pizzas or make your own and place your order where they will cook your pizza in their bell oven for 90 seconds at 900 degrees. Pretty impressive and absolutely delicious. 

We are self confessed foodies and when we find a place we love we want to share it with everyone. To see for yourself visit their location in Morgan Crossing you will not be disappointed. For more details visit the following link:

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria 

Well it's been a whirlwind kind of day...started early on Realtor tour then headed off to meet up with photographer for a new listing coming on the market. Sounds like a good start to a day you would think...and it was. Until when I finally got back to the office and checked my email... Seemed strange that the last email was just after 10am but even then I didn't panic yet or really even think anything of it... I carried on with follow up emails and some work. Then thankfully a client called to ask why I hadn't called her with the information she requested.

At this point I knew something was definitely wrong, I had a few people send me test emails and to no avail. After spending a couple hours on hold with google thinking it was a gmail issue. Never did get through...I had to head out to a couple appointments with clients. By this point I was very frustrated, but what could I do.

Thankfully I had sent out a message in our office forum, where one of our tech guys made mention of the issue coming from my website. Who would have known, I wouldn't have even thought to check there. Despite the fact that my web provider failed to let its users know they were having issues, they did fix it.

Finally about an hour or so ago the issue was finally fixed and slowly now my emails are starting to trickle in. But very frustrating as one of the things we pride ourselves on at the Bettina Reid Group is communication. Not just good communication but prompt communication. People are usually quite surprised to hear back from us so quickly. Now I play damage control as I follow up with a few leads that were missed. As well as respond to client emails to ensure they don't think I was ignoring them...thankfully our clients know its out of the ordinary.

As great as technology is, you never really realize how important it is and how much we take it for granted until you lose access to it somehow. 

I wish we didn't have to rely on technology as much as we do...but that is today's reality.

For those who know me, I am pretty big on reducing waste, reusing what I can and recycling as much as I can. Sometimes drives my husband crazy. I hate to throw something in the garbage if it can be given to someone who will put it to good use. Needless to say our garbage bin always has very little in it.

Recently one of the ways we've been trying to reduce our waste is by using glass mason jars instead of plastic containers. I love them, they are perfect to store just about anything and will last much longer than plastic containers. I even found reuseable lids instead of canning lids.
 
This week in honour of Earth Week - Willowbrook Mall and Kin's Farm Market will be giving away to the 1st 250 people a FREE bag of locally grown produce in return for a donation to the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Who doesn't like to get something for FREE and even better when it is something good for you, all while supporting a good cause.

For more information visit the following link:

Willowbrook Mall 

What will you do to reduce your carbon footprint???

Cloverdale's Brickyard Station just got a new Physiotherapy and Sport Injury Clinic with a fantastic Physiotherapist. Mylee Ross has been treating my soccer playing daughter for the last couple years and she swears by her. Mylee knows exactly how to help and what to suggest to help her. If you play a sport or have a child that does then very likely you will know exactly why we sought out her help in the first place. 

Thankfully my daughter never had any major injuries over her youngers years and hopefully as she goes into adulthood won't get any.....But she was one of the lucky ones as many of her teammates over the years sustained not just one injury or another but many. That's not to say she didn't work her body hard and come out with many bruises, aches and pains. That is where Mylee came in. My daughter knows her body well and knows when she needs her help.

If you are looking for a good physiotherapist whether you live in Cloverdale or not my family highly recommends PhysioStation Sports Injury Clinic   for more information check out their website at the following link:

PhysioStation Sports Injury Clinic  

Today was likely one of the hardest days in my grandmother's life as she had to move my grandfather into a long term care facility. I always thought losing her 1st husband, my birth grandfather 24 years ago was hard. I am sure that it was.... But for many reasons this time is much different.

Slowly over the last few years my grandfather has deteriorated and the worse he gets the harder it has been for my grandmother to care for him. My grandfather has dimentia, which is to be expected for someone in his 90's. Some days he remembers people and other days he doesn't. He hasn't been able to tell you simple things like what day of the week, or time of the year it is for a while. Most people are just people whether he should know them or not. It is incredible how the mind works though. I visit him often, but because of work my husband is lucky to see him once every few months and today he recognized him. But not only does he recognize him by name but also to know that he hasn't seen him in a long time. This isn't the 1st time he has recognized him over me too, it is the strangest thing. Now even though he knew my husband he prcoeeded to comment on how long it has been as though he hadn't just commented that. Which shows his dimentia is progressing more and more each day.

I think the hardest though, is when he started to not know who my grandmother is. It doesn't happen all the time, thankfully she can laugh it off. But I am sure inside it is tearing her apart, piece by piece. As she slowly loses the man she loves and the man who used to adore her.

As a family we have all been trying to convince her that she needed him to go into a long term care facility so that she didn't get too worn down and sick herself. But like the rest of us she is stubborn and no one was going to make that decision for her until she was ready. I am very proud of her, as I know making this decision was likely the hardest she has ever made. It would be for me and has definitely brought about many conversations between myself and my husband regarding how we want to handle this when our time comes. But the reason I am so proud of her is that she made this decision not for herself, but because she has realized she couldn't give him the care he needs. Even the care workers in Kin Village  were impressed because coming to that conclusion doesn't always come easy for families and usually doesn't happen until after they have seen the care the facility provides, if they come to that conclusion at all.

Kin Village  has impressed our whole family with not only their facility, but the fabulous staff that will be working with my grandfather. They have him in a very comfortable room and did everything they could to not only help him but us as a family to get him settled. The transition is always the hardest the first few days and will likely be harder on my grandmother as she goes home to an empty home tonight. The realization that he will never again fall asleep next to her at night....brings tears to my eyes. 

I blogged about getting older last month and once again that realization has hit me in the face hard. I have been together with my husband 24 years and we are learning to cherish every day as they seem to be going by quicker and quicker all the time. I feel like before I know it, we will be in our 80's and 90's going through the same thing as my grandparents. Don't get me wrong they have both lived long lives. To live to be in your 90's is an accomplishment, to have had a second chance at love as they both did is a gift. 

About a month ago I had clients treat me to lunch at a very good Indian restaurant in Delta located in a little strip mall on 120th St and 82 avenue - Tasty Indian Bistro. 

Until I approached the restaurant, I wasn't sure what to expect. As I mentioned Tasty Indian Bistro is located in a strip mall, there are many strip malls along the 120th Street corridor, I am sure with many great restaurants. Had I not been invited for lunch I would never have spotted this one. Once inside I was completely impressed with the ambiance and decor. We sat near the window at a table similar to the one in the photo above on a very comfortable bench. Throughout the restaurant there are plenty of booths for more intimate meals and tables available for larger groups. The perfect setting for any occasion.

Most importantly the food was amazing. I have always been one to try just about anything at least once. I let my clients order and they ordered a variety of food I have never tried before....all of which was delicious.

Ever since I have been craving Indian food and wanting to go back. My husband and I both enjoy Indian Food but have never known what to order. Over Christmas we were invited to a colleagues home where they introduced us to Paneer and a delicious Lentil dish. So this past weekend after a long day of showings with clients I did not feel like cooking and thought this was a perfect opportunity to pick up Tasty Indian Bistro take out food. I wanted to see if my family would like all the same dishes my clients ordered. As well, my husband and I eally enjoyed the Paneer so we had to get that too. I ended up with a lot of food not realizing just how much food it would be....for 3 of us. Needless to say we had enough leftovers for days. :) Not a single dish went to waste.

What did we order.....Chili chicken which was full of vegetables, Butter chicken (just in case my family didn't like anything else), Vegetable Samosas with a delicious chick pea side dish (we couldn't have Indian Food without samosas), Dal Makhni (Lentil dish), Kadahi Paneer (which everyone describes as Indian cottage cheese- but really is nothing like it. Looks more like a type of tofu, but much more delicious), Aloo Gobi (a vegetable dish), Raita (yogurt dip) and of course roti to dip into every dish! 

I know that's a lot of food...but we wanted to try a few dishes in order to know what to get next time. 

I highly recommend if you like Indian Food to check out Tasty Indian Bistro, for more information on their restaurant visit their website at the following link:

Tasty Indian Bistro