snowy april 8th, too!

And our furnace still does not work. I am not good at making fires (it is a combination wood/oil furnace), so yesterday I nagged at Benjamin, who is on vacation from college, to make a fire for me. He finally did at 2:30 in the afternoon. We were freezing. So, the fire is out again. Ben is gone, his girlfriend's grandmother died (so sad, she fell and broke her hip, went in the nursing home for a few weeks, and just never really recovered from the anesthesia, and just died)......so Ben raided daddy's closet for some suitable funeral clothes, two minutes before he had to be out the door....no fire. I might just have to get brave and go down there and try to get one going. I usually fill the house with smoke. And the kids either cry if I leave them up here with the gate latched, or follow me and make mischief while I make a smoky mess.......

Maybe I'll just bake some cookies!

I went to the doctor yesterday, only I didn't see the doctor. I should have checked before I went in. See, I have been going to this place for years. They never have me come in just to take a test. They usually just schedule a "first" appointment for me. But there is a new girl at the desk, who doesn't know me....anyway, my first appointment is next week. They are going to do a sonogram to find out when I am due. It was not a very good experience for me, the appointment. The nurse who screened me , did blood pressure, ect, was also new. She was plenty nice enough, but she couldn't seem to comprehend that I had no idea the date of my lmp. She just kept asking questions and fishing...and I told her that my brother had passed away, and I felt like my memories from the last month or so are just blank....she had no idea what I was talking about, and the thought was in my head to tell her so shockingly blatantly how awful his death was, what he did! Just thinking about it made me feel shaky and upset......really upset. I don't think I calmed down until we got in Wal-Mart....(we went to the county building first to get Mali's birth certificate back from the passport place, so she can get into Canada.)....

I cleaned out my purse this morning, and I won't mention how much stuff I pulled out there...and the thing is, I clean it out quite regularly. I must just shop alot, judging from the amount of receipts I threw away. But I found a thumbtack, two packets of gauze, hair things, gum, a baggie of chip crumbs.....and lots of change. I also found two smiley-faced Walmart stickers still on the backing, which I stuck to Camille's hands, and the look of delight and wonder....she was just tickled.

After Walmart, we went to RealDeals for some snacks for the trip.( I mean Wally wanted $1.50 for a can of Pringles!! Robbery!) (Another supermarket closed in this small city, and Walmart does have a good market share....it doesn'tmake for low prices...and I hate giving them my money, anyway) Now, I didn't realize what a local operation RealDeals is. There are only eleven stores. It is such a great store. Everything is a dollar, and unlike traditional dollar stores, this place always has something different, something that is worth WAY more than $1. For example: 3pks of Hanes socks. Chocolate peanutbutter Chex mix. 8 ounce boxes of Kraft Mac&Cheese crackers. 6 packs of bottles of cranberry juice. 10 pk. juiceboxes of 100% grape juice. Lots of medicines with other drugstore labels, like ibuprofren, acetominaphen, ect. Not just Made In China junk. Made in USA junk too, ha. Last night I found bags of Hershey Kisses, with coconut cream centers. We tried a bag last night, and it met with their approval. Anyway, we have lots of snacks in the van. I didn't even bring them in the house.....

Rats, it is getting cold in here....I need to get moving and make that fire...