You Know it's Spring When...

• The snow melts
• The snow melts because it is washed away by rain
• The view out your front window is mud and rocks and twigs and pinecones and toy shovels you thought you had lost last summer
• You are happy that the view out your window is mud and rocks and etc.
• The birds start waking you up at 4 am again
• You see woodpeckers on telephone poles during your walks
• Your kids can ride their bikes
• You start complaining about swatting flies
• Your house temperature is higher than what you set your furnace at, and you don't even have the oven on
• You can wear sandals without getting frostbite
• You feel like singing again
• Spiders hang out on the back of your see-through picture frame that just happens to be on top of your computer desk (guess what I'm looking at right now?)
• Spiders come out of the woodworks to torment you again
• Even the spiders can't make you sad about Spring

Secondhand Shopping

I love thrift stores.  I have to admit it.  Sometimes I forget how much I love them and I don't shop there for a couple months, but every time I go back in and score such great deals, I am thrilled.  I went to Gleaners today, which is one of the seondhand stores here in town.  And in my opinion it is the best one.  The reason is that everything is super cheaply priced.  Some secondhand places still have (relatively) expensive prices, but not Gleaners.  Three years back I got an Oster coffee maker for $1.  And it still worked when I got rid of it last year.  The only reason I got rid of it was that it took quite a long time to fill the pot, but still.  $1.00!  My current microwave I bought for $4.  It's old but it works.

I get a rush just thinking of those things!  I can't go shopping there too often or I would buy too much stuff.  They sell kids books for 10 cents each, adults for 25 cents.  The way my kids wreck books, it's better than taking out library books. 

I can just go on and on but I won't.  I was just excited since I went there today and got some clothes for Abby, and some ribbon for a project I'm going to be making for the girls, and some books.  I used to always think that thrift stores were for poor people, but down here, I see almost everyone in town there.  Seriously, it's always busy on the days they are open.  And I totally get it now.

Still Breathing

I am here but too tired to post tonight.

If I Got Paid to Sit Around and Talk About Travelling...

My poor girls are sick.  Leigh caught a cold (apparently) last week, Friday I think it was.  She started with a runny nose and goopy eyes, both the yellow-green that signals infection.  After a few nights she started to get congested and cough.  And then, Sunday afternoon, Abby's left eye started to goop and swole up, almost instantaneously.  I had wondered if Leigh's eyes gooping meant pink eye, but her eyes weren't even the tiniest bit pink.  But Abby's was.  And it swole up HUGE, so she could barely see out of it. 

So I decided to take her in to emerg since if I waited to call the doctor on Monday we probably wouldn't get in for a couple days so it would be worth the wait in the hospital if we could get help right away.  I decided not to take Leigh because she is even more active than Abby, at least Abby can sit still if I occupy her, and she was mostly on the mend it seemed.  And there was actually only two other paitents in emerg, and the one guy (and his group of friends) were on their way out soon after we got there.

We got checked in fairly fast, and we were waiting on bed B (just in case you were wondering) to be seen by the doctor.  I could see the doctor, sitting at the nurse's station.  It was a doctor that I don't really care for, but beggars can't be choosers right?  I was kicking myself, because we got there just before 7, and that's when the doctors switch shifts, and the doctor who was on the shift that just got off was my maternity doctor.  I loved him when I had him.  I was sad that we missed him.  But anyways, that is nothing.  I could see this other doctor, and he was sitting at the station, chatting with a nurse who was going off duty, about travel. 

They discussed ferry fees for when you go across to Vancouver Island; they discussed the fact that this certain doctor hadn't been to a city an hour away from here.  They discussed the pros and cons of being a ship's doctor on a cruise line.  They talked about buying houses.  They talked about American hospitals.  All while I sat on the bed watching them.

And that wasn't all.  Oh no.  Throughout this very interesting conversation (not really) they would sprinkle some choice swear words.  Not just a little d**n, but big ones like the F-word or even s**t.   Yes, while I was sitting on a hospital bed in emergency with my 3 1/2 year old daughter, a doctor and a nurse talked about travelling and used unprofessional language, pretty much right in front of me.

I am used to having to wait for doctor's in emerg when they are finishing up paperwork from a previous paitent.  But was this really necessary?  Is this just because we're in a small town?  Where I used to live it wasn't like this that I can recall, and it's not a huge city either.  It was bigger than here though.  Maybe it's a "I-don't-care-because-it's-such-a-small-community-they-have-to-have-me-so-whatever?"  Okay, I'm rambling and losing focus.

Anyways, I think that I might look into writing a comment card or something.  Maybe talk to someone in the office at the hospital.  I can get over the waiting for the doctor.  Maybe he is a multi-takser and was secretly filling out paperwork when I wasn't looking.  But using such language in front of my girl.  That is just wrong in such a professional setting.