Hospitals, Markets and Brunch

Thursday was spent at the hospital essentially the entire day.  Bart and I arrived at 7:30 am to get him checked in and prepped for surgery.  They finally ended up taking him into surgery at just before 10:00 am.  His entire surgical team was really nice and they were also quite funny.

Bart and his awesome hat.

I had a few hours to kill so I headed downstairs to the cafeteria to get something to eat and to wait for Ola to arrive.  I was going to get some breakfast type food, but then I saw grilled cheese, fries and gravy on the menu - and I mean, nothing beats those items made cafeteria style.

Grilled cheese, fries and gravy

Ola arrived as I was just finishing up my meal.  We did a bit of shopping at one of the hospital gift shops.  I bought Bart this adorable little hamster and Ola got him a funny random mug.  We then decided to go outside to a nearby cafe - Good Earth - to get some coffee.  We ended up having iced mocha frappes and oatmeal raisin cookies.  Every 15 min to half an hour we would call up to the wing that Bart was to be moved to when the surgery was finished, to see if he had arrived yet.  Finally, after 1:00 pm he had arrived.  We went to visit him.  He was still pretty groggy and because he had no facial expressions, we had a hard time telling when he was being sarcastic and when he was being serious.

Hamster in the random cup

Me and Ola

Ola left shortly after so that she could go home and prepare for the Lady Gaga concert she was attending that night.  I remained at the hospital, reading, napping and keeping Bart company for the rest of the evening.  At around 7:00, his parents showed up.  They even brought me dinner (rice, fish, cucumbers, peaches and chocolates).

On Friday, I got up early to ensure I was at the hospital by 9:00 am since that was the time Bart was supposed to be released.  Instead, we didn't end up leaving until after 12:00 pm since his doctor was called into surgery and thus couldn't stop by to release Bart.  While we were waiting, Bart's friend Rory stopped by to see how he was doing.  I actually had yet to meet Rory so it was nice to be able to put a face to the name.  Once Bart was released we headed back to his place to relax for the rest of the day.  We watched some Alias and did a lot of napping.  Ola and her friend Kim stopped by and brought us strawberries and right after they left, Bart's parents came too with dinner.  His mom had made a squash soup and pierogies for us.

Pierogies

After dinner, Amer came by, then my mom and Jonathan and then Nelson.  It was nice to see everyone again!

Saturday morning, I was up early again to meet Leslie, Benita and Angie at the City Market downtown.  It was FREEZING that morning.  Because it was so cold, I decided not to wait at our regular meeting place but to head over to Credo to get some coffee and wait for them there.  First Benita showed up, followed by Leslie and Angie.  While there, I saw one of my History professors from my first degree - it is still funny to see him pushing around a baby stroller now.  Anyway, we finally got up the courage to brave the cold and the wind to do our market shopping.

Benita, Leslie and Angie (she bought that hat!)

Leslie is really excited about the giant kale

Beet variety

Chard

When we couldn't take the cold anymore, it was time to head to Blue Plate Diner for brunch.  Benita and Angie went to get a table while Leslie and I walked back to my car to put our purchases inside and to put more money in the parking meter.  On the way we saw my friend Brad - it was nice to run into him too!  The restaurant was quite busy so we had to wait about 15 minutes to get in.  But it was well worth it.  Angie and I both had the Florentine Benny and Benita and Leslie had the Ranch Eggs.  And we all had more coffee too - of course!

Benita

Florentine Benny

Ranch Eggs

After brunch we headed our separate ways.  Leslie came with me though, and as we headed back to the car I spotted a few other people I knew, but wasn't able to get a chance to talk to them (Brianna, David and Karley).  Leslie and I headed over to her house to grab her sister, Cathy, so that we could go to Noteables to help Cathy get a new travel purse.  It was so hard for me to be in that store and not buy anything.  But I am proud that I made it out without opening up my wallet, even though there were a few items that made me seriously consider it.  After the shopping adventure with Leslie and Cathy, I headed back to my place to pick up some ingredients for a bit of baking I did later.  I also made a stop at Safeway to get additional groceries.  When I arrived back at Bart's, he was fast asleep on the couch.  When he woke up I made him go and sleep in the bedroom so that I could do some cooking.  I ended up making goodie bars and a strawberry rhubarb pie.

PIE!

We headed over to my place for dinner with my mom, Jonathan, Grandma, Uncle Duane and Aunt Sandra.  We ordered in Chinese.  It was really yummy.

I was hungry

After dinner, mom, Jonathan, Bart and I played a quick game of Scattergories before we headed back to Bart's.