Looks can be deceiving!

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Spring is just teasing us..

..they say we still have snow coming!!

Here are a few snapshots from the yard today..

I learned something new today!

Not exactly something relevant or that bears any worth in carrying with me into the future, but..

On this crisp, crystal clear, calm, coldish, chilly, cloudless,

cutting day:

.. I learned Aneira likes her drinks the same way I do...

NO ICE,

please and thank-you..

She put her snout all the way in there, grabbed the ice chunks with her teeth, and dropped them beside her bowl so she could drink the water straight up:)

What a clown..!

..now THAT'S what I'm talking about..

..it took until this morning to get the email address of our family doctor. 

I was advised repeatedly to let him know what transpired in the course of

Janae's diagnosing/treatment/prescription by those around me.  So at 9:14, I pushed

 SEND on the email with our story.. It was 9:48 when the phone rang. Doc Smith himself. 

He is going to address this with the Loch Ness. He repeated his thanks a few times

 in the conversation for the email.  That is the kind of info he needs in regards to

physicians in training.  The dosage issue, the tone used, the body language/attitude all need

to be addressed.  He was careful in his wording, but conveyed neither him or other

staff there would've given the same instructions in regards to treatment. 

He was very apologetic and genuine in his concern for Janae. 

Now, THAT is a doctor...!!!

(Thankfully she has bounced back to 100% and busy planning

the all-girls class sleepover postponed to this weekend as we speak:)

Despite being a self-proclaimed snow hater..

.. I must admit it is very pretty out there right now!

So... instead of complaining about the weather, I am dwelling on

something I read a few days back:

Today I can complain because the weather is rainy, or I can be thankful that the grass is

getting watered for free.

Today I can feel sad that I don't have more money, or I can be glad that my finances

encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

Today I can grumble about my health,

 or I can rejoice that I am alive.

Today I can lament over all that my parents didn't give me when I was growing up,

 or I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

Today I can cry because roses have thorns,

 or I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

Today I can mourn a lack of friends, or I can excitedly embark upon a

quest to discover new relationships.

Today I can whine because I have to go to work,

 or I can shout for joy because I actually have a job to do.

Today I can complain because I have to go to school, or eagerly open my mind

and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.

Today I can murmur dejectedly because I have to do housework, or I can feel honored that

 the Lord has provided me with shelter for my mind, body and soul.

The rest of today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped.

And here I am, the sculptor, who gets to do the shaping.

What today will be like is up to me. I get to choose what kind of day I will have!

We have the cutest mutt!

One form of entertainment during making supper..

Give the dog an 'empty' MiracleWhip container

and watch her try and clean it out:)

Try and take it back!

Not a chance..

And she never did end up being pregnant:(

Just FAT I guess!

Today's tidbits:)

.. a humorous one - direct quote from medical information sheet given us for the recent

Penicillin prescribed..

"you may develop a black, "hairy" tongue while taking
this medication."

(I'll be checking Janae HOURLY, rest assured:)

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..don't we all feel like doing this every once in a while during the day?

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..seeing tomorrow is Service Day for Grades 8 and 9, both girls are involved

in some form of Community Service.  One is cleaning up at Cheam Wetlands (should

be lots of fun if we get the snow they forecast:) and the other is 'chillin' (in her words)

with the dear old folks in Sunset Manor.  She even baked for them..

Hope they enjoy the little Blueberry Streusel Muffins as much as 

we did making & smelling them!!

After all this, I had a sour cream glazed donut..

..So I leave for Costco at 10:00ish this morning. 

Two main reasons :
a. get the all important prescription filled for Janae, and
b. buy a certain something for a gift for Friday..

..The gift is out of stock, and will be in later this aft or tomorrow sometime. Sucks. But, hey.. this happens.  Good thing we drive a Honda which has amazing fuel mileage and good thing Costco sells fuel which is about 5 cents cheaper than anywhere else... Not a biggie.

..The prescription.  From. The. Doctor. We. Had. Hoped. Never. To. Have. To. Deal. With. Again. 
As I go over the necessary details regarding Janae and her Health Care # and our address and such like, a perplexed look comes over the face of the pharmacist.. Apparently, there is no Dr. Loch in the system.  She is confused.  The number (behind the signature of the doc on the prescription) is associated with some other doc or name.  Apparently this doesn't happen. Or definitely isn't supposed to. And until it is sorted out, there will be no prescription filled.
"Did she just get married?" they ask.
I don't know and I really don't care.  I hope I never see her again, to be honest. But I stuck with the "Not sure" response instead of saying what was going through my mind..
Just my luck..
A while later I hear she did what she could on her end, couldn't confirm anything, took a chance and changed the name in the system to reflect our prescription.. Whatever, I'm thinking.. Let's just get 'er done!! It turns out there would be a 45 minute wait since they were short staffed.  That was all good, seeing I had shopping to do anyways.
I come back for pick-up 45 minutes later, and there is an issue, they tell me.  The lady behind the counter says the dosage didn't make sense. WHAT??? After all that research done while we were in the doctor's office, Ms. Loch also couldn't even read or calculate??? So the lady goes and gets Buddy LabCoat, and he comes up with the following info : Dr. Loch prescribed half of what is normal dosage for a 13 year old, and in amounts that weren't available in the tablets she prescribed!! The incompetence of this Dr. was really getting to me!!!
I said, 'well, you know Janae's age, just do the Math and if the pill has more mG's than what Dr. L. thought, just give me less of them' - can't be that hard, I'm thinking...
Nope.  Doesn't work that way.. He had to fax the prescription back to the doctor, explain her faults, get her to re-write an accurate one, fax it back with revisions and signature, THEN he could fill it.  So, this was a half hour after it got faxed, and so far he heard nothing back yet. OH MY. 
I went to sit down, and thought 'forget this'.  I called my doctor's office.  I explained to the receptionist there I was sitting in Abbotsford waiting for the Loch Ness Monster to rewrite her prescription and I didn't feel like waiting all day, so when would that be done?? Turns out the Monster wasn't even in the office today!!!!... Nou breek mij klomp.. Altijd wat...
So I once again explained what happened, and said please get our own competent doc to take care of this, and make it snappy since the chicken breasts were thawing in my cart!! (I actually had more tact than that, but same message:)
It worked; he came through once again, and solved all of the issues, and 2 hours later, I was walking out of Costco;  AFTER exchanging my thawed chicken breasts and Spring Rolls for another frozen box of each...
Despite the fact that I am supposedly dieting, I went STRAIGHT to Timmy's for a Chai Tea Latte and a sour cream glazed donut..  NOW I'm better again:)
I would probably still be there waiting had I not taken the initiative to phone and figure out what the issue was!!

FINALLY..

We got the results of the tests done on Janae last Thursday..

Remember the other day, when I said 'another story for another day' regarding our doctor visit?

I guess today is that day:)

When we went to the Open Clinic last Thursday afternoon, Janae was in rough shape - she had thrown up overnight, had quite a fever going, had zero energy, could not swallow at all, and all she did was sleep.. She was carrying around a margarine bucket, and when it wasn't used for vomiting purposes, it was to collect all her saliva that she couldn't swallow.. She spit in it a few times a minute:(

So, at the Clinic, we had an hour and a half wait (in which we took Kurt for his haircut:).  Janae twice emptied her bucket under the shrub right at the entrance of the Doctor's office.  I'm sure fellow patients were not too happy at the sight of her heaving violently into her Becel container before and throughout her elevator ride - but what can you do at that point??

When we finally got in, we had some young female doctor.  She looked up Janae's history, and seen immediately that 2 years ago she had tested positive for whooping cough.  She seemed so delighted by that fact! She claimed she was testing EVERYONE for whooping cough and NO ONE had positive results:( She sarcastically did the little finger quotation marks when explaining how we were supposed to be in some sort of ""outbreak""..) It was about then that Janae and I looked at each other

 with our first 'OH... MY....' look.

Said doc proceeded to ask Janae about all her symptoms and checked her out..

She asked about her siblings and the birth order of them all.  She asked Janae if she was immunized.  Janae replied 'no' with the little bit of energy she could muster, and based on the shocked look of the doctor, she glanced over at me with a 'was that a wrong answer to give her or something?' look.. 

Ms. Doc gave me THE look.

'Are your other kids immunized?' "No" was my response. 

'Did your doctor ever talk to you about immunization?' "Yes" was my answer. 

Well, that baffled her even more.

'You must have personal reasons not to immunize?' in some tone I couldn't even put my finger on.

She looked at me as if I was stupid, and no other explanation would ever hold any

weight against her, the medical genius..

I gave Janae another eyebrow, and looked at her like 'WOMAN, you do NOT even want to go there right now.. look at my daughter and tell me what is going on with her. THAT is why we are here....' She caught on immediately to my non verbal cues, and went back to typing furiously on her computer. 

 I bet she wrote in all caps - 'THEY AREN"T IMMUNIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

She told us she would test for both strep throat AND whooping cough.  She must've figured she was so good at testing for pertussis by now from doing EVERYONE else, and Janae was obviously good at showing positive results, that even though Janae had NONE of the symptoms, we would throw that test in too right away.. That logic was an eyebrow raiser as well. 

Ms. Doc went on thinking out loud - 'hmmm, I wonder if you can get whooping cough a second time?? I'm going to look that up a minute..'

Janae was dumbfounded.  Here went said Doc, to her computer, Janae sees her in the Google search engine typing in 'can you get whooping cough more than once?' That was seriously an 'OH MY' look to the max that transpired between us... Unbelievable. 

Here is a DOCTOR, who brags about the amount of tests she is doing since we are supposed to be in an 'outbreak', and she obviously doesn't even do the research about the whole pertussis thing to even know the basics of the virus!!! Like, Woman!!

We could've looked at Google ourselves at home.. IF we thought the symptoms warranted it..

 SHE DOESN'T HAVE WHOOPING COUGH!!
 It was like the doc was on her own little mission - find SOMEBODY who had it... ANYBODY!! Validate my 8 years of schooling with some positive results!!!

Regardless, we had both tests done, and Janae was told if symptoms stayed the same,

 to come back for a mono test or go to emergency..

The story doesn't even get better..

I asked 'when will the results of the test come back?'

Well, she figured Saturday morning, and IF Janae tested positive, they would call

us first thing Monday morning, seeing the Clinic was closed on the weekend.
Ok, I guess we had little choice there.

That got said Doc thinking.. out loud, once again..

 'hmmm, what should I do about a prescription?'

She was going back and forth about whether or not to give Janae one.  

Sick little Plunk and I were looking at each other like, 'this can't be real'..  

She then went back onto the computer to figure out what dosage to give a 13 year old. 

Janae was right befuddled now. She didn't trust this lady at all...

After scribbling it all out on paper, she gave it to us, but told us NOT to fill it until we got

told the results Monday morning.  I'm thinking, 'look at this kid, seriously,

waiting 4 more days is NOT a good idea given the shape she is in'. 

I couldn't believe it.  Obviously I must have said something along those lines,

because all I remember her saying rather cavalierly.. 'Oh, it doesn't matter

whether you start antiobiotics 3 or 4 days later.. don't start it before we call you Monday..'

Like, WHAT???

 It doesn't MATTER whether you start 3 or 4 days later?

What a pathetic doctor! As if I would take Janae in because she is in

that rough shape to get something to heal her ASAP, and we get told that???

I was NOT impressed.  You should've seen the look on Janae's face..

Twice over the weekend, she had random bloody nose attacks.  She NEVER gets bloody noses..

Well, we never got any call on Monday. Janae went to school; she was wiped when she got home. 

She skipped out on PE last hour, since she just couldn't do it..
She slept on the way to Michaels (in Abbotsford) both the way there and back..
She thought she was getting better though, and was back to eating about a quarter of her regular diet. 

Yesterday, at about 2:00, my sis told me - 'Call the doc! Ask the results.. Sometimes

they don't get around to phoning everyone..' So I did. 

The receptionist said the results were there, but the doc never had time to look at them yet, and she wasn't allowed to.. I never got a call before closing, so I thought it must be okay. 

Janae slept again between coming home from school and supper, but given there was a
little bit of color in her cheeks again,

  I thought maybe she was on the mend and it was just a really long haul with some sort of weird flu..

 We went to Choir, and were home at about 9:30 last night.  At 10:00 the phone rang. 

 'WHAT? Who calls at this hour??' was my question to Mak. 

It was our home doctor, calling from his home.  He apologized for the late hour,

but it was important.  Apparently, Janae tested positive for a strain of strep throat that

they haven't seen in 20 years..!!! She HAS to get on that antibiotic immediately

and finish the course of it. It is very important she eradicate this from her system,

since it has been linked to kidney failure and kidney issues! 

WOW. Not a nice thing to have going through your head when you are

supposed to be winding DOWN for the night! Unbelievable..

As you can see in this picture from yesterday (SIX days after getting ill!!!),

those antibiotics SHOULD have been filled and administered for 5 days already

in my opinion.. But hey - I'm not a doctor.. What I am is a rather unhappy Mother

 of a sick child who I think should've had better care..

Just sayin'.. And the next time I have to walk into that Clinic,

I will request my home doc or ANY other doctor

over the one that we just had - rest 100% assured on that one..

It's a beautiful day..

..if you're a goose!

There are so many puddles and high waters to pick from!!

As for us humans, we are seriously lacking in the

Vitamin D department this week, due to only liquid sunshine..

Good week for house cleaning and baking!

This is what some do..

..when they have an hour to burn..

Only reason it gets on the blog is :

'You're outside on the deck with all that, I hope you know..'

"No, I'm on the kitchen floor actually"

'You're only on the kitchen floor if I get to take pictures
and make a blog post'

No response:)

Being a blog-hater, it takes a mixture of my manipulation
and him being in
a really good mood for me to post anything regarding him:)

Don't recognize him?
I know what you mean..
Neither did I when he walked out of the hairdresser's yesterday.
Think they could've made 4 wigs with the hair they took off
had they salvaged and recycled it:)

We have the dearest neighbors!

Not only is there regularly food going back and forth over the fence, we go back and forth as well!  They are the best neighbors ever! 

They taught us how to play the Mexican Train game with Dominos..

 They introduced us to Nachynka, a Ukrainian cornmeal dish..

The Mrs. makes a humdinger of a poppyseed cake that we are so very grateful for

every time there's a birthday here.. 

 They thoroughly enjoy coming with us to School Functions;

 it is like our kids have another set of grandparents..

Even if we ever move, we will keep a relationship with them!

The guys were sitting around after supper the other

night trying to calculate the cubic centimeters of cake there..

Kurt figures at least the size of two Harley Davidson engines

and Nathan was going through the formula in his head..

We figure roughly 150 cubic inches.. :D

A neighbor is a person who can get to your house in less than a minute

and takes two hours to go back home.
~O. A. Battista



What a day!

Valentine's Day..

I could write a really long post as to what this means to me personally, but I filled a few

sides of a card for Nathan doing just that, so I'll save you all the mushy insights:)

At the end of the day, it applies to just him anyways!

(plus, he is a Neels and they are known to be rather private, so he might not appreciate it!)

Let it suffice, you may all know, my Valentine is exactly what his name means..

'a gift from God'.

I received all sorts of gifts - spoiled like crazy..

A big heart box of Purdy's chocolates..

9 bars of Purdy's white chocolate bars..

a candle set, an incense set,

and the most awesome dress I've seen in years..

A few weeks back, I was out shopping with Janae.. burning some time on a Saturday

afternoon, seeing the other two kids were paintballing.  I came across this beautiful

dress that cost about 4 times what I would be willing to pay for any article of clothing

for myself.  I kept looking at it hanging there; it was so cool! 

Looked like some European type style -

however, seeing I'm Dutch, I'm also cheap.

I could NEVER justify spending that on a dress - just because I liked it..

Well, Mak caught wind of it, and guess what

I unwrapped yesterday morning..

YEP. THE DRESS.

He is SUCH a dear..

I went to work with my heart filled to the brim.

Not because of any of the gifts, but because he gets me..

Like seriously, he knows me inside out.

It is the most beautiful thing..

To trust someone with everything you are, the safety and

security it ensures if it is right..

After work, I went and got a few things in town for final

preparation of the bash happening in the late afternoon.

I also made two attractive gift baskets filled with chocolates,

candies, cookies, hot chocolate, and more chocolates.

Kurt's 2 bosses have birthdays this week:)

At 3:00, a few extra girls stepped off the bus here, and decorated

the games room.  At 5:00, there were 10 girls here..

At 5:15, I picked Courtney up at work, and WOW.

What a surprise!

She screamed & freaked and was half way back up the stairs

before realizing why there were 10 girls in her bedroom yelling 'SURPRISE' the

second she opened her bedroom door to drop her school bag off in there..

It was PERFECT!

Here are a few pictures of the day:

Romi was enthralled with the key that came with the chocolates box:)

These girls were awesome! They thought of everything!

This ice cream cake was made by a friend, who combined

fudge and raspberries and cream and other wholesome ingredients:)

And that is why they say:

Friendship doubles your joys, and divides your sorrows

&

Friends are a most important ingredient in this recipe of life

&

Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure

&

Friendship isn’t a big thing – it’s a million little things

Now, don't they all tie into Valentine's Day as well?

Enjoy your day all!

xo