Decorating Fun

It is my favorite time of year. I don't like dragging out all of the Christmas stuff out of storage but I do love the house decorated. I like to turn off all of the lights and just sit on the couch and watch tv in my chair with just the lights from the tree and the greenery. It's always a pain getting everything up and sometimes it's a bit "much" but isn't that what makes this time of year a little more fun? I admit with the radio stations starting Christmas music on Halloween ....that was a little too early but with the colder weather I'm finally in the mood. Last night I did my favorite thing too. I LOVE LOVE driving around and looking at the lights on the plaza. It was cold but we still walked around and looked at some of the display windows. It is just a special place that isn't just about the shopping. I had to laugh when Matthew and I were decorating.

Matthew: Mom, Something isn't right with the tree. It looks funny.

Me: Well Matthew, it doesn't have any ornaments on it yet.

Matthew: No mom. I know THAT (add sarcasm...don't know where he gets that from). It's missing the blanket thing.

Me: The what??

Matthew: You know, mom. The thing that keeps MY presents warm!

Me: Oh, you mean the tree skirt. (Trying SOOO hard not to laugh at him)

Matthew: Yeah...so our tree is a girl?

That was it...I lost it. Couldn't stop laughing!! LOL

Thanksgiving Blessings

Last Thanksgiving it was nearly 80 and I thought it was a good idea to grill out steaks. Well, for 364 days I've heard about that from my mom that she didn't get her Thanksgiving. Oh she thought the steak was GREAT but she missed the turkey. So this year, it was in the 30's and I cooked a turkey, stuffing....yes, if you look close in the picture it is from a box, green bean caserole, dinner rolls, frozen cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and tippins pies! Not bad for someone who says she can't cook!! Okay....I didn't make the tippins pies but trust me.....they are soooo good. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I enjoyed spending time with my family....we watched movies, relaxed and played Monopoly (Matthew's new favorite game and secretly...mine too). I won last night's game :-) Tonight on the GAC country channel is the Garth Brooks Special from the concert I went to on November 14th. Check your local times. I am so excited..look for me!!

Big Box Stores -- More Rants

Big Box Mart Funny Jokes at JibJab

It all started with a trip to Home Depot yesterday for exterior paint. I'm having some house repairs done and after a lot of thought, I've decided to have the outside repainted a more neutral brown....there will be pics in another blog of the house. I've fretted like a mad woman trying to pick just the right color that will go with the grey stonework over the garage. Anyway...I finally decided on a brown that is in the master bath...I painted some on the front and chose that rather than a grey. So, I take the can to Home Depot to get the brand of paint the painter likes to use. Ok...no problem. He tells me exactly what to get and how can I mess this up, right? Technically I've been no stranger to hardware stores the last year so I feel I've got this task under control.....until the guy behind the paint counter made a loud "sigh" when I handed him my Sherwin Williams paint can. My 'gut' told me to just take my can back and take my business elsewhere....which is exactly what my dad would have done!!! So he goes to the isle to get my paint and comes back with a gallon can....to which I reply....I need the 5 gallon paint. I had already told him that....again...another "sigh"...Finally get what I want in my cart and go to check out and finally a guy comes to help me put it in my truck. I'm so not going back there. I did go to Lowes and bought black shutters, matching paint for the door.....the guy in the Lowe's paint department does know me by name now...LOL! So what on earth is the difference between the two similar stores? Customer service. The guy in the paint counter at Lowe's made sure I knew where I was going for everything on my list....and the nice guy in the lock department made my existing house key fit in the new lock I bought for the broken one in the back door. At Home Depot...I couldn't even find anyone to ask for help.

Today my shopping saga led me to the other place I hate...Walmart! It's the only place that sells the Eagles new CD. I ended up bying a few more items there just to avoid a trip to Target today. Turns out they were having some kind of Secret Friday Sale and people were going nuts over $400 laptops and some deals on big screen tv's. I looked at video game systems for Matthew for Christmas but I just couldn't bring myself to buy him one yet. I want him to have one someday so his friends can come over and have something to do besides run in my lawn I'm STILL trying to let grow!! Anyone with any advice on which sytstem is best??

Halloween

I've never really been a huge fan of Halloween and this year was no different. It all started when I got in the car to run errands yesterday morning and Star 102 was playing Christmas music. Are they kidding?? It was flipping Halloween!! So after running a ton of errands (that's another blog), a suprise visit by my mom, a trip to school to help out with Matthew's classroom....we headed to church for the their Fall Costume Party. They hand out a ton of candy for the kids, have carnival type games that Matthew enjoys playing and overall it is a safe event and overall pretty fun. Some of the parents even dress up......my friends and I however, do not :-)

Rascal Flatts

I took my college friend Stacy..aka my concert husband to the RF concert last night. Stacy and I have known each other for 18 years after being suite mates our freshman year at William Jewell College. I met her last night in Liberty for a quick dinner at the Dish (pizza) then we drove to downtown Kansas City to the new Sprint Center for the concert. After parking in Stacy's husbands work building, we walked a couple of blocks to the giant building. We found the will call windows where my fan club VIP tickets were being held. (yes, I'm insane I know) It was 56 degrees outside waiting to get in the building but the crow and the excitement of finding out we had Floor 1, row 8 seats....the weather didn't really bother us. The hold up for getting in the building was the metal detectors. After a long hike to our floor seats, we were ready for the fun to start.

Jason Aldean was the opening act. After listening to a few of his songs, it was time to go to the bathroom, grab some water and look at t-shirts. Finally the opening act was done and we headed back down a slew of steps to our seats to watch them set up for RF. It was cool to see them get the stage ready, watch the lighting crew climb up these dangling ladders to their spots in the air to run the spot lights. Now their is a job I couldn't handle! Finally it was time for RF to hit the stage. There were two stages...the main stage in front of us and a small revolving stage behind us. To get to the revolving stage, a bridge connecting the two came down from the ceiling. When they were on that bridge, we were REALLY close to them! So cool! We had a total blast for sure.

Two hours later, it was time to leave and find the parking garage again. There was some road construction on the way back and there is a huge hole in the ground. As soon as I said something like....wouldn't it be bad if we fell in that...I missed my footing and twisted my ankle! That's what I get for wearing my b*tch boots!! Thankfully I didn't roll into the giant hole!! We make it to the building....which is totally deserted but the cleaning crew....so we made a mad dash to the garage to my truck.....that was thankfully still there! It all worked out super well and I'm sure we do the same thing for Garth Brooks....we just won't have floor seats! :-)

Enjoy the pics!

Cause I Am The Mom Song

Being a mom is truely the hardest job I've ever tackled. Am I good at it? Well I think some days I'm better at it than other days. My goal is for Matthew to get a good education, feel loved and secure in his envirionment and just not hate me when he gets older if I screw things up for us along the way. I want him to grow up and treat that special woman in his life with love and respect and believe that true love conquers all. When I say "I love you"...I mean it! I digress a bit....I hope you all enjoy the video!

Friends - ...Joey Loses His Insurance (Ross's Accent Scenes)

Check out my Slide Show!

Check out my Slide Show!

Out for Breakfast

Today we went to lunch with my friend Shannon who now lives in Atlanta. She is 5 months pregnant with a girl and due in December. I have to work this weekend of course so I'm going to miss her baby shower. It's always fun to get together and catch up. We had breakfast at IHOP and I have to admit I love their pancakes and hot maple syrup. What a great way to start the day. No wonder I feel like I need a nap now! It's going to be around 100 today and the humidity is horrible! I plan to stay in the a/c whenever possible the next week and a half.....triple digits expected for the next 7-10 days. YUCK!!

Hospital Open House

Last week I worked a couple days extra at the new replacement facility for the hospital I now work. Eighteen months ago the hospital I had worked at for nearly 14 years closed their inpatent portion of the hospital. I then moved to one closer to home. It's a small hometown feel hospital but with a nursing home smell and style. I knew going into it that this summer we would be moving to a new 88 million dollar facility. To say I'm excited about working in a pretty, clean and high tech building is putting it lightly. So last week I went to the required orientation only to find out that in this brand new, 88 million dollar building, I couldn't use the toliets. WHAT?? Are they kidding me? Oh no. They weren't. They brought in this enclosed trailer of porta potties. My first thought. I am so not going in there. My second thought.......I've gotta go in there...and soon! Darn my diet coke addiction! So, I climbed the stairs, opened the doors and to my surprise....it had a/c, 5 stalls, running water to wash my hands and everything. However, it still had that SMELL!! EWWWWWW. For 3 more days I had to use it. I gave up on trying not to drink because we were cleaning the patient rooms, mopping (yes, they paid me my hourly wages to freaking mop), putting supplies away and with all of that work.....I was drinking. Finally by Friday we had the ok to use the toliets, we found some toliet paper and we were in business.
Last night was the open house. They have beautiful artwork on the walls, the construction equipment was hidden and final touches are still being done. Overall, it's a huge improvement from last Friday. The plan was to move all of the patients this morning at 6 am. I am so glad they didn't ask me to work extra today....I would have had to be at work at 5 am. That is just too early for me!! LOL

The Great Bug Caper

I admit it. I have a mega bug phobia. I HATE them. I am very allergic to mosquitos and will get quarter to dollar size welts after getting bit. My cure for the horrible itching? I paint the bite with clear nail polish and that usally takes out the itching! So lately we have had a few little spiders for me to kill but the other night two (I'm guessing) yellow jackets made it into the house. Matthew saw the first one on the floor in the family and so that was an easy kill. I had no clue there was another one in the house until I heard it in the window. It was stuck in between the window and the blinds. I had it trapped there for a little bit as I was desperately trying to kill it. Instead, I made it really mad. So then it would dive bomb me, go to the recessed lights in the ceiling....which I hope were really hot. The cycle of dive bombs and then it hiding from me went on for 4 hours. It finally landed on the hard wood floors and I killed it with my shoe. Ah, it was 9:30 pm and I was going to be able to sleep.....knowing it wasn't going to crawl in bed with me!

A Young Mom in Need of Prayers

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMMIDT_Ssm8

Today I'm writing with a heavy heart and a prayer request. First, her name is Shawnda Turner and she lives in the Kansas City area. I've never met her but she is a nurse here in town and is a new mom to a cute little girl. She has been diagnosed with a rare form of colon cancer and has had surgery and is going through chemo. Since it is so rare, the often have to do lab and xray's to see how she is progressing etc. Unfortunately, the other day she recieved some disheartening news that there are some new 'hot spots' in her rectal area that are suspicious for malignancy. Tomorrow (Tues) she goes to her surgeon and then they are going to Omaha to see another doctor......If you want to read and keep up with her, her blog is http://www.shawndraturner.blogspot.com/ . It is set up where you can post her words of encouragement etc. From her blog and the story the local news did on her, she seems like such a genuine person and I'd really appreciate if you all would say a little prayer or whatever you feel like doing. I check her blog everyday and I think I've just been drawn to her as a fellow mother. I can't imagine going through this at my age. Both of my parents have had cancer and that is the one thing in life that really scares me. So, I'm hoping to do my part and send some more prayers her way. Thanks!! I did 'okay' it with Shawndra to post this :-)

A Trip to the Country

This afternoon I recieved a phone call from a co-worker asking if Matthew and I wanted to come out for a little play date with her grandson.....out in the sticks! Kingsville is about 30 miles from where I live and I knew it would be a fun trip when she told me to turn left onto the gravel road at the fork in the road and that it had no actual road sign. I gave myself 10-1 odds that I would get lost! I totally did NOT! Drove right to it. It's a house with lets say, lots of potential. Anyway, Denise is a tech at work and is going back to school at age 41 to become a nurse. She is currently in an english class and I've been proof reading her papers and kind of helping her out.......with the emphesis that I was not an English major!! We did really well on the first paper so she asked for my help again. And, since we all know from the last blog that I really can't say 'no'.....Matthew and I went on this adventure today. Caleb (Denise's 4 year old grandson) and Matthew had a blast watching the chickens eat, the ducks swim in a little tub and jump on the trampolene. Now, of course the whole time we are there I'm in freaked out mother mode......as I can see Matthew breaking an arm falling off the trampolene and did I mention they have PIT BULLS????? Well, we both survived the trampolene....sorry no pics of me on it! LOL

A Hard Lesson Learned

I try not to complain too much about my job. Honestly, for the most part, I usually enjoy it. Yesterday was not the case. It started off on a good note. I had gone to bed at a decent time and slept pretty well. So, I woke up in a decent mood. That mood changed when I walked into work......I saw a freaking mouse! It ran from one room to another and totally freaked me out! I'm not too surprised they are there. I'm sure they were at my previous place of employment too but I certainly didn't see them there! So, I clocked in, caught my breath and found out I was going to the tele unit. It certainly wasn't my turn to go but my friend was down there so I didn't raise a ruckous. Well, it must have been f*ck the float day as I ended up with the most critical patient on the entire floor that should have really been in the ICU. The other staff members and nursing supervisor were all impressed with my calmness in all the problems that arose on all of my patients yesterday. I had patients on numerous cardiology drips, hourly vitals and a guy with active bleeding. I was beyond stressed out. I just knew I was going to get a migraine! So, it was literally my worst day at work EVER but now, after a night of sleep, it could have been one of my best. In all reality, I should have refused to take care of the really critical one. An experienced tele nurse should have had him. It was good experience for me but was really out of my scope of practice and I will never again so stupidly put my licence on the line like that. I have worked too hard to potentially loose it just because I didn't want to say "no" and refuse to care for a patient. That attitude just isn't my nature. I guess it's a good lesson learned.

School and Updates

Last Thursday, I watched a friend and former co-workers two little girls. Seriously, they are totally well behaved. Perhaps it helped that they were mesmerized by Seasame Street for a good hour! I thought my friend would be gone for a doctors appt for an hour max but the office was of course running behind.........so the next thing I knew, it was noon and Matthew was due home from the last day of school. We had had 3 or 4 snow days last winter so it extended the school year. Summer school starts on Tuesday and is the whole month of June......7:45 to 2:45....yes, we will be getting up pretty early!! Anyway.....the pic is of Matthew and Lilly.....she is almost 5 and yes, Matthew just adored playing with her! Can ya tell??? The other little girl is Lily's sister LuLu.

Summer school started yesterday and he said it was "awesome". Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that PE is daily? It's at a different school than even last year's summer school but he's totally resiliant and seems to not be scared to try new things. He's such a fun and good kid. I have a bad habit of leaving my pjs on the door in the hall bath after I take a shower. He LOVES bringing it to me, tell me to clean up after myself and the ground me! I just don't know WHERE he gets this stuff!!

Field Trip

I went to Matthew's field trip today to Paradise Park. They have lots of things for kids to do there......and adults. There is mini golf, batting cages, arcade games, etc. Today they did 4 activities.....bumper cars, batting cages, foam area and climbing the rock wall. Matthew LOVED the bumber cars....but OMG they were loud! The batting cages were fun but for first graders......slow pitch was pretty fast!! Matthew and I hit the ball a few times. Matthew's favorite part is this foam area....the balls are all foam and you can put them in these vaccum like machines and then shoot them out of a gun like thing. He had a BLAST in there! The final area was the rock climb. Dressed in a safety harness...most of the kids gave it a try. Matthew did pretty well until he looked down!! Just like his mom....a bit afraid of heights until I get used to it. It then was really raining and too cold to eat outside so back to school for lunch in the class room. They were all really well behaved and only one accident......i think the little girl sprained her wrist in the batting cages....nurse Lisa to the rescue again! A bag of ice and all was well. Gee, seems I'm never off duty

My Dad

I can't believe it's been 16 years ago today that my dad died. I was a sophmore in college, trying to study for my finals. To be honest, I was in total denial he was going to die right then. I remember it was a Saturday and when I got the word, several of my sorority sisters came to my dorm room, packed my stuff up and loaded up my cherry red Chrysler LeBaron Coupe.......the car I HAD to have :-) Gosh, I can still remember the day my dad bought me that car too. I remember my mom thought I should have the white one....but after I batted my eye lashes to my dad...I got the red one. I have to admit, I totally miss that car. Anyway, all packed up and not wanting to do the long drive home until the morning......we went to Perkins for an ice cream sundae. Sunday morning (Mother's day) I headed back home. I stopped at my usual McDonnalds for a bathroom break and soda. When I took the keys out......the whole silver ignition part came out too. I remember thinking.......what do I do now. Of course this was way before I had even heard of having a cell phone.......so, called AAA and the guy put it back in for me to get home and eventually to the dealer to get that fixed. Anyway.......why am I writing a blog today?

So, I had a meeting this morning and on my way back, there is HORRIBLE traffic on the other side of the high way. I happen to look over and I saw an Exide Batteries truck. Why do I care?? Well, that was the company my dad worked for. I'm telling you I had the most intense goosebumps I've ever had. I certainly don't think it was coencidence at all. I haven't seen an Exide truck in litterally years.....so I think things are going to be okay :-)

Storms and Prayer Requests

I was reminded yesterday by Renee that it had been a while since I've posted. It's always good to have a little push. Thanks Renee! Then came the problem......do I even have anything news worthy to even blog about? Well, not really. Currently, we are under a tornado watch.....which always has me freaked out. AND it always reminds me of the movie: The Wizard of Oz. I swear, everytime it came on tv, which was usually once a year.. I'd have horrid dreams for a couple of weeks. We used to have this old push pedal organ in the living room. It was seriously one of two rooms in my house growing up the was always "clean". Like company clean. If anyone came over, they were immediately ushered into the living room.......while the rest of the house was rather cluttered. If you had ever been to my house growing up, you totally know what I'm referring to!! Anyway........the push pedal organ went from floor to ceiling and during the day, it had beautiful ornate wood and a few nick nacks sitting on it. At night, it became the scarriest place in the house. One of my nightly jobs was to turn off the light that automatically came on in there.......via a timer. Yes, I'm sure that deterred many criminals from breaking in. After turning off that light, that organ looked like it was Satan himself. No kidding........it freaked me out. I was so glad that someone wanted that when my mom decided to move!!! Anyway, now that it is spring and we are awaiting the first big storm......perhaps the movie Twister might be fun to watch. Or....maybe not. I think I'm more in a Hitch kind of mood....anyway....

I do have a couple of prayer requests to add. My mom's brother Wayne is in a hospice facility in San Diego. He had some kind of intestinal/GI cancer and went through chemo and radiation. I think he responded well but then it did spread to a place in his neck. They did more chemo that really made him sick and some radiation. However, a couple of days ago, his condition changed and he is now on pallative care.....comfort measures only. I had honestly hoped my mom and Wayne would have patched things up by now. And to think I thought I got my stuborness just from my dad! So, the prayer requests is for a peace for both of them in regards to the past and for no suffering for Wayne at this time.

The other prayer request is for my friend and coworker, Lindsey. I've blogged about her before. I gave her my crib a few months ago and a ton of clothes etc. She is now about 35 weeks and has had a couple of episodes of preterm labor. She is on a pill to keep any labor from progressing. She had a sonogram today to determin the baby's weight etc. The baby wasn't too active, heart rate wasn't that fantastic and he is only about 4 or 5 pounds. I didn't like the sound of any of that......so please pray for Lindsey and her baby.

Oh, one more: Jennifer's son Brenden had a temp of 104 yesterday. She called ask a nurse Lisa last night but I haven't heard today how things are going. I assume no news is good news but he does have a history of heart surgery about a year ago.

Finally, a prayer request for my mom. She has gone to Pella Iowa on a trip with the bank. I call it her old lady trip......and of course, she was totally looking forward to seeing the tulips and going on a little mini vacation! Hopefully she is having a great and safe time.

You will notice the pic of Matthew......his front teeth are STILL not completely in! He is so going to need braces....grrrrr!!!

Frozen Fountain!

It's been so cold the water has frozen on the fountains on the Plaza and the tulips have drooped! What happened to SPRING?? Supposedly it will be 60 on Sunday. I'll believe it when I see it! Yes, two posts in ONE day. Someone, check my forehead, I must have a fever!! TaTa for now!!