Does this thing come with instructions???? And other random finds...

My son is moving up....Kind of...It's a bit exciting for me, and even more so for him...He is getting a brand new bed.  His old bed, a Captain's bed/Mate's bed, I've heard it called both, has been sold.......

And he is now moving into a bunk bed!!!

That's what it will look like when my husband puts it together......Now exactly how long that will take is another story.....Hopefully it comes with instructions.....But wait...He is a man after all, and do men EVER read the directions?????

The assembly begins tomorrow night.....Wish my husband luck...(maybe I better pick him up a few bevvies.....to keep the stress down...LOL)

My other news of the day....

I stopped at Value Village this afternoon...They were having a 50 per cent off sale, and I thought I'd see what I could find....They have hundreds and hundreds of VHS movies right now......I thought I was entering a video store.....And for 99 cents each?  You can't beat that price......

Do you remember VHS????  For those of you with a puzzled look on your face, you are obviously not of my generation.....That was what we watched movies on before the DVD was invented....It had actual tape, and didn't get scratched...My son still has a VHS player in his room, and his collection is made up of more VHS tapes than DVD's....I bought a couple more VHS for the kids...

I am so glad they came out with the most recent movie "The Muppets".  It gives my kids the chance to get acquainted with the characters I loved when I was a child.  "The Muppet Show" was a big part of my life, and now my children enjoy them as well.   Coincidentally, my daughter's favourite character is Beaker....That was my favourite as well!  I picked up these Muppet favourites today, along with another favourite of mine, the original "Charlotte's Web."  My son has watched it at Preschool....Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider....I feel like I am reliving my childhood all over again..Here's the Wikipedia reference in case you are not familiar with the novel or film..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte's_Web 

And one final score I made.....

We are having our front room painted in the near future...and I picked up this picture that I really liked.   It may look familiar to some....My Mother-In-Law I believe has the same one or something like it?? It's nice to pay dirt cheap prices for used items, because sometimes you can find things that you really like....and are in good condition.....and in the end, they don't cost you an arm and a leg....

As they say..."One person's trash....is another person's treasure."    It didn't look nice or fit the decor in someone else's house(that's why they donated it)...But it will look just fine on my wall!

A beautiful day in Mapleton Park! Lots of pics!

We decided this morning to take a walk in Mapleton Park.  We have lived here for over 6 years, and we really haven't taken advantage of the the trails and beautiful sights to see. A wonderful walk, fresh air, sunshine and time spent with the family.  It's also very peaceful, and it was amazing to watch the birds, squirrels and chipmunks...I think that is one of my favourite parts.......... We took along some bread and crackers to feed the ducks..Something tells me by the amount of food along the trails(sunflowers seeds) that the animals in Mapleton Park aren't lacking in the getting spoiled category any!  We entered through the Gorge Road entrance this week, and next time, I think we'll try from the Mapleton Road end.

I took tons of photos....

There were a lot of chipmunks and squirrels.  Someone had been on the trail before us, and had left a major feed of sunflower seeds on several tree stumps... You're able to get fairly close to the squirrels.  I think they aren't as nervous because of the number of people who walk the trail everyday.

Can you see the squirrel in the tree?

 There were many ducks out, either in the water or walking on the ice.   Some of the streams are still frozen...And you could see how carefully the ducks were walking so that it wouldn't crack beneath their feet.

This is  the view over the duck pond, onto the back of my street.

The kids took a break...We managed to get them to sit close enough for a picture!

Someone had written this on one of the feeders....

So my daughter followed the instructions!  She didn't quite understand why she had to hug a tree though...We explained that trees are living things too, and need a hug every once in awhile...just like people..  :)

"We had a great time!"

It was a wonderful couple of hours...Just another one of Moncton, New Brunswick's beautiful sites..I think we'll do this on a weekly basis now!

Just a few random updates, thoughts and photos

I thought I should offer an update about my daughter....She is now on the mend....Not completely recovered  just yet, but almost there.  We got the confirmation from the Hospital...She DOES have Influenza...so it is a matter of 5-7 days, lots of fluids and rest....We are thinking she'll be back to school by Wednesday..I don't know if the flu shot saved me from this one, but if it did....thank goodness....My hubby and son haven't shown and symptoms as of yet either.....crossing fingers and toes that they aren't still to come.....

Last week, my hubby got the chance to play hockey through work.....He hadn't been on the ice in awhile, so he was thrilled to do so....We went to the J. Louis Levesque Arena to watch him play, and I snapped a couple of pics...

The jersey he is wearing is one that he got when we lived in Ontario.   I worked for CHUM radio, and every year, hockey teams from many of the cities where they had radio and TV stations got together for a tournament....The one year he played, they supplied them with the jerseys, for 1420 THE TEAM(which doesn't exist anymore)

Last week, we made probably the best purchase for our cat, Nova...A cat tree.  Just a small one, but she absolutely loves it!

Hours of enjoyment...and she loves to curl up under that curved part and go to sleep.

A random quote to share....

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.---Mark Twain

Spring is here! (Well, almost) It officially arrives at 2:14am ADT

New Brunswick saw some gorgeous temperatures over the weekend...Not that I noticed or had any time to spend enjoying them, but according to Environment Canada, we set some record temps yesterday..It was 15.5 degrees Celsius in Moncton, smashing the old record set in 1943, of 11.7 degrees Celsius..  Other record breaking temperatures were set in places including Bathurst and Kouchibouguac....And the provinces hot spot was St. Stephen with 22 degrees Celsius...

Today was a different story, with cooler temperatures...But tomorrow, they're expected to soar once again...with 19 degrees forecasted, and 22 degrees on Wednesday...

Despite the cooler temps today, it was still a glorious day..

The snow has almost disappeared from our backyard...

And the other great thing?  These pictures were taken at 5:50pm....and it's still very light out!

There weren't many birds around tonight, except for this lone Morning Dove, perched on the wire behind our house.

He/she was cooing quietly as if to be asking friends to join him/her there...(I'm not up on how to tell the difference between the male and female)

PART 2: Never mind the flu..Whatever this illness is, is much worse in my opinion...

The post I wrote last night, now has a part 2.....I was actually interrupted in finishing last nights post, by advice from Telecare to take my daughter to Emerg.  Her fever didn`t come down, and they were a little concerned that she might be getting dehydrated.  So off to the Dumont Hospital we went.   There we experienced a fairly empty waiting room, with one man who had a broken foot and a gash under his eye, with the blood dried still on his face..(I would`ve taken a picture but I didn`t want to be too obvious)....Every second word out of his mouth began with an "F".....My daughter was so out of it though, I doubt she even noticed...

Once she was seen by a Doctor, (which was about 3 hours later, which actually isn't too bad), the Doctor said she didn't think it was strep throat, despite the diagnosis by the Walk in Clinic Doctor, but she did do a swab.  She also did an influenza test as well....and then we were sent on our way...The results won't be in until Monday....

Today she was a bit more like herself...Her fever was down to a low grade one, around 102 degrees Farenheit(which is about 38.8 Celsius)....and she ate chicken noodle soup for lunch and half a piece of pizza for supper....which I was glad to see....

Once the results come back tomorrow, I guess we'll have to go from there.  Technically, if you have a fever for 72 hours(I think that is the length of time) then it is generally some sort of infection....So if the fever is still there, but the results to the tests are negative, then we might still have to determine what is causing it...

There are a couple of advantages to being sick....once you are feeling a little bit better......You get your toes painted by Mommy...(I know....feet..not the most attractive thing)

And your fingernails too....

You get an afternoon without your little brother around....Daddy took him to the Moncton Wildcats game.....So, it was disappointing for my daughter to miss the game, but she still got a treat when they returned home...

Now she'll have it for the next game she goes to....when she is feeling much better...

She won't be going to school tomorrow....Another day of rest, and having to monitor the fever....Hopefully she is on the up and up...And if it does turn out to be influenza......Hopefully her brother isn't next on the list...

As for mommy, no day off for her...It's back to work.....Wait?   Did I just have a weekend?

Never mind the flu.....Whatever this illness is, is much worse in my opinion

The weekend started out great.....Fridays...always a bonus...It was payday...Bonus number two....and the weather was gorgeous.....Who could complain?  But when my daughter got off the bus, I noticed her cough...She sounded like she was losing her voice.  Then I checked her temperature..Yep, a fever...That's fine...I've experienced this before...Tylenol, brings the fever down, and rest....

That's her this morning....Looks healthy enough?  A bit of swelling in her face.   We decided to take her to the Walk-in clinic...and she was diagnosed with strep throat, and given a prescription for Amoxicillin....No problem, I can handle this....

From there i has gone downhill.....She has begun throwing up, and I had to give her another dose of acetaminophen after two and a half hours because her fever is up to around 105 degrees Farenheit(which is about 40.5 Celsius)....I called Telecare, and a friend, whose daughter possibly has the same illness....she is in the same boat, only her daughter has been running this fever for 3 days...He daughter was hallucinating, with the high fever....And I have spoken to several other people who are in the same boat.....Now I'll just wait to see if the fever comes down at all....

Children are great...No regrets at all.....But it's no wonder we age so quickly when we have them....The stress of a parent, worrying about their kids, whether they're sick or hurt......

I'm so glad the good times outweigh the bad ones.....

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Top o' the evening to ya!  Hope you have enjoyed a few green beer today, or will be taking in some festivities tonight!

My co-workers and I enjoyed, courtesy of one of them, who brought in a wig and glasses so we would get into the spirit!