Our work is never done...

It was a gorgeous, sunny weekend. Warm, too. A plus. What did we do? Paint the hall, stairs and landing of M's house. It was already a rather mustard-y yellow so we had to paint the whole thing white first (2 coats), then paint the lighter cappuccino color that we used in the kitchen (2 coats). M is finishing up the trim and skirting boards with the first coat, tomorrow we'll use the normal gloss white. It'll look gorgeous when it's finished. And all in the name of impressing my parents.. They will be here in 2 weeks time. M wants the place to look great. (it already did). But he's anal retentive so everything has to be perfect. Hence, the new color and the updated trim. It'll be great when we sell someday, so it's all worthwhile. But it didn't need to be crammed into the two weeks before my parents arrive! LOL He's too good for me. ;)

Back to the weather though. We had this freakish weekend, since St Paddy's Day. Warmish, sunshine, very mild for what we HAD been getting. I even got some garden time in. I mowed and weeded to get a little time outdoors. We added compost to the beds. I love this shit! If I was MY garden, I'd be out there creating little raised beds, I'd make a little vegetable garden out the back. I hate to ask M any more favors, he's already working a million hours. It's funny. If I was home, I'd buy the wood, I'd hammer the thing together myself. I know if I said I was going to do this, I'd get the answer 'oh, I'll do that for you. just let me finish... (fill in the blank). And then I feel bad that I asked him to do more. So, I'll hold off for now. Maybe I'll do it while he's out of town working on the other house! :)

I had some bad news last week. My brother sent an email saying that my sister-in-law had a miscarriage. She was six weeks pregnant. I've never been pregnant so I would say that I think it's better that it was early on, rather than later. I've never miscarried so I don't know if the pain(physical, emotional) is as great as it would be if it were later.. I assume that it is. I never know what to say except I'm sorry.. My brother's email also made some comment about the Italian medical system (for those that don't know, my brother has been living in Milan since December). I tend to get frustrated when people assume that because some other country does things differently to the United States, that they do things the wrong way. He may not have been saying that but it sure sounded like to me. I mean, a lot of doctors abroad go to medical schools in the U.S. so they are going to be just as effective as doctors in the U.S. Even those that don't go to medical school in the U.S. certainly can be as well trained as those in the U.S. I get so frustrated with the ethnocentric (if that's the right word) view of the world. Country centric might be more accurate. Ah well, my rant today. It just rubbed me the wrong way.
I just read what I wrote there and hoped that I didn't sound like what I was just ranting against. What I hoped to convey was that there are alot of doctors out there who have not been trained in the U.S. who are great doctors, just as there are doctors who have been trained and work in the U.S. who can be shitty doctors. It works both ways. We shouldn't assume that we have the ONLY medical staff who can help people effectively. People have been having babies, surgeries, etc, in many countries, around the world, for years! Ok, off my soapbox!