Gardening

Since it we had lovely weather the past few days, I've been spending much of my time outside attacking the weed pit that I call my flower garden. Here's a picture of the garden halfway through weeding.
And here's a picture of some of the "good browns" that I got out of the garden for use in the compost pile. These are the remains of flowers from last year and leaves from the oaks out front. Anything else, like dead weeds etc., I'm not using on the compost heap this year since I don't want to inadvertently spread the weeds via left over seeds.

These are some of the bulbs that I plan to put in this year, begonias, dahlias and a shady mix including ferns for out front.

I really want to get a few more roses to put in, but I can't decide where they should go. And I haven't had much luck keeping the roses that I do have looking nice for the whole summer. I keep trying but something makes the leave fall off after the first bloom. Any advice is appreciated.

Spring

Here are some pictures to cheer everyone up as we are once again experiencing chilly weather and in some places snow.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

This past weekend was fairly busy for us. There was the retirement party for Jim's dad, which my parents came down for. Then there was Palm Sunday and Becky's choir concert.

Here's a summary of the good, the bad and the ugly from this weekend.

The Good: my parent's visiting, seeing family and friends at the party, lots of yummy food, making it to Mass on time, a Sunday afternoon nap, Becky's choir singing in Latin :)

The Bad: staying up way too late, eating too many desserts, a stranger striking up a conversation with Maria during the Gospel reading (then saying "She's ok." when we pick her up and tell her to be quiet, grr...), Amish kids on Rumspringa (thank you netflix)

The Ugly: Maria after missing several hours of sleep, seeing a half-moon from a man in front of us at Mass...eww.

Check it out...

I added a new site to my "Fun Stuff" link on the left. Kunst der Fuge has midi files of various composers' works. It's not like listening to a great orchestra performance, but you can get a good idea of what the music is supposed to sound like. And to my great pleasure, they have Gustav Holst's Suite in E flat, something I've longed to hear since I played in in District Band, many moons ago.

Happy listening folks.

Note to Self:

When you let Maria play in the sandbox, be sure to shake her off, take off her sandy clothes and hose her down before you let her take a nap in your bed. Unless you enjoy sleepy between gritty sheets.

Argh.

So I had a doctor's appointment today. Not just any doctor, a specialist. Since, my appointment was at 10:45, I knew that I'd have to leave the house at 10. So the girls and I got up, got dressed, Maria and I ate breakfast and then I fed Amelia. Oh, and I showered somewhere in there, put on Caillou for Maria, filled a sippy cup and packed a diaper bag.

Anyhow, at about 9:40 I'm looking over the paperwork that they sent me, and I realize that it says..."Bring your lab results with you to the appointment. DO NOT rely on the mail or fax." Argh.

I know that I read this before... but I thought that it only said "do not mail". Silly me I thought having the info faxed would be enough... after all they provided the fax number on the form. So not panicking (ok, maybe slightly panicking), I call the number. Busy signal. Wait a minute. Hit redial. Busy signal. Repeat this 6 times. Pack up the girls. Put everything down and try one more time. Argh.

Finally I get through to someone. I'm put on hold while they check for the forms. The nice lady asks when they were supposed to be sent. Argh.

"I dunno? the beginning of March?"

Nice Lady: "ok, then they might be up front, hold on a minute.... Ah, here they are in your file."

Good. At least I don't have to run to pick them up before going to the appointment. But now it's already 10:10. I'm supposed to be dropping Maria off with Pop at 10:15. Argh.

Run for the car... find Maria downstairs in her stroller.

"I riding in 'troller mommy!"

Put Amelia in car. Get Maria out of stroller, put stroller in trunk and Maria in her seat. Drive.

10:24 - drop Maria off with Pop. Drive.

10:40 - arrive at doctor's office. Look at packed waiting room full of grumpy faces. Check in, and overhear a woman on her cell phone saying... "I'm still here, and I had a 9:15 appointment." Argh.

After filling out the HIPPA paperwork, I scan for a place to sit. There are three spots, all next to someone else. I pick the old man in the corner, hoping that he's not allergic to babies. He isn't... he and his wife spend the next 10 minutes making noises and faces a Amelia. She smiles back, coos and put on quite a show. The other people in the waiting room look jealous... they have nothing so interesting to entertain them.

Meanwhile, I sit and calculate how far behind they are....I figure I have about an hour and a half wait ahead of me. Argh.

I then sit and wonder how many people I can offend if I have to breastfeed Amelia in this waiting room. All of them are old and the way we're packed in there is no way I'll be able to go unnoticed. I spend some time worrying about this, then figure... if it comes to that I'll just demand that they let me use one of their rooms. Then I spend time trying to remember who was in the room when I walked in and who has come in since I got here. Looks like about 10 people ahead of me. Argh.

Then I watch the drug reps come in. This provides some entertainment, as they are all dressed alike and carrying large bags. I start to amuse myself by guessing which ones will stay for an audience with the doctor and which ones will decide to leave.

As, I'm near the door, and the reception desk I get to over hear all kinds of privileged information, including the receptionist discussing her medical condition with the drug rep., and the drug rep handing out free medical advice... essentially, "try our drug." Isn't there a saying, "don't trust someone who's trying to sell you something?" (maybe I made it up, but it's sounds true to me."

I also get to hear about the receptionist's father, who because of a freak accident in which he swallowed a chicken bone, now has to have his throat stretched twice a year. (eww...)

Finally, my name is called. Unfortunately it's a false alarm. Argh.

They just want to get my weight before I see the doctor. He will be with me shortly. I wait five more minutes, then call Pop and let him know that I'm going to be late as it is now the time that I said I'd be there to pick Maria up. Five minutes later and the doctor comes to get me.

Amelia is now starting to get fussy. I rock her with one hand while letting the doctor check my blood pressure, pulse, etc... I give him my history... he checks the chart a couple times. Finally, he says, "I agree with your doctor, you have X. I think that you should stay on the medicine. Come back if you doctor feels that you need to see me again. I'll meet you at the front desk."

Huh? That's it? Wait, I have questions...to late he' s already gone. So, in all I waited an hour and 45 minutes for 5 minutes with a doctor, a specialist, who didn't give me a chance to ask any questions, and whose only advice was keep taking the medicine.

ARGH.

What you get... (#2)

...when you come to check on your "sleeping" babe, after you've fixed breakfast for big sister.
...when you try to button up the sleeper after changing a diaper.

...when you try to catch picture of Amelia smiling.

What you get... (#1)

...when you get up from blogging to clean up after breakfast.
...when you feed your two-year old a muffin (yes those are all muffin crumbs from one day).

...when you pop in a video, so that you have time to blog.

...after you're done blogging and ask two year old what she wants to do. ("Go Outside!")

Opposites