CLUB MEMBER ( HFBBC)

I am now the proud member of" The hurt, now fixed bad back club",(HFBBC). Things happened rather fast. My foot has been numb for about 3 weeks and I was loosing strength in my right leg. So being the nurse that I am and working in an OR, I asked one of our well known neuro surgeon "Is this a Problem"?

After a quick assessment in the hallway no less I found myself in a MRI machine. The results called to me was "kiddo this is not good, surgery only way to fix it". So yesterday I found myself back in the OR but as a patient not a nurse. Feeling better today and having happy thoughts. OK drugs help!

Kitchen

Caitlin,s kitchen is featured on down---to---earth.

I knew that kitchen looked familiar when I opened Rhonda's blog today. Yeah for Caitllin!

LESSONS LEARNED FROM LENORD

As you know I work in a hospital. I have seen a lot of things, been in several situations that we say “up to armpits in alligators”. I have not once felt the need to attend a crisis debriefing post after any of these past traumatic situations…that is until today.

We have “all walks of life” working in our very busy department, makes the job colorful even without adding in the patients. One person on staff is a very unassuming, simple man I will call Lenord. Every morning each and every employee is greeted by name, big smile and true felt “Hi” by this gentleman. He has not forgotten a name of any human being that has passed through those double doors in 3 decades. Lenord cleans up after us well-educated, highly trained professionals, (none of us having taken the course: If you use it, put it away, if you spill it, mop it up). Lenord is not worldly sophisticated like the professionals; he holds complete conversions playing all the roles by himself, picks his nose, at the same time hoisting up his scrub pants and retying them to his hipless frame, laughs at inappropriate times and eats his lunch at promptly 11 am, mouth open and egg salad oozing down his chin. I feel, well safe as I pass this fixture every morning, hearing his “Hi Eileen, its Monday”. I have stopped carrying a day timer having Lenord to greet me and inform me as to the day, I just don’t need one.

Lenord has one job that scatters staff in all different directions, the empting of the trash.

He gathers his clean bags, walks that Lenord walk up to the trash basket and bends over. Yup that’s the signal to scatter. While in full conversation with himself and a plumbers crack view that even the failing eye sighted staff can see with or without our eye apparel secured behind our ears, the trash bags are changed out. Once done we all ease back to the center of the room picking up conversation missing not a beat. This ebb and flow happens 3-4 times a day as natural as breathing.

It seems that Lenord has not been feeling well lately and had an “episode” under my watch at work. Using a very honed skill of mine I designated, sent Lenord to the ER.

After an hour or so and no word from the ER I decided to use other skills, concern and compassion and ventured down to the ER to check on Lenord’s status. Finding Lenord’s room I knock on the partially opened door and hear

“Yeah, come on in”

I step past the door to find a drawn curtain, now I am a seasoned nurse and curtains are drawn for a reason.

E: Lenord are you all put together?”

L: “Yeah I’m just peeing”

E: “Ok Lenard, I will wait outside till you are done”, hearing the gate of a full bladder open and pour forth.

In the hall I talk with Lenord’s wife and get the full scoop, they do not know what is wrong, nothing, nodda, the usual medical diagnosis costing hundreds of dollars an hour. “Hey Eileen my blood pressure was 138/84” yells Lenord to me in the hallway.

I yell back; “Great Lenord that’s better than mine”, still hearing the liquid gold pouring through the released gate. More conversation with the family when Lenord announces;

“OK Eileen I’m done”

I move toward the curtain and stop, “Lenord are you all put back together before I come in?”

L: “Yeah I’m put back together”

I pull back the curtain in one grand swoop, do my usual 1 second room assessment and catch my eyeballs in my hands.

There on a gurney sitting up at the 45 degree hospital issued position, side rails up is Lenord, holding no less than 800mls of liquid gold in his left hand, smile on face, shirt pulled up to chest, blankets to thighs, under pants in proper place and one retracted penis staring at me!

“AH, Lenord I don’t think you have everything put away yet”, as I back out the room pulling the curtain in the most professional manner I can muster for the moment, I turn and nearly take out his wife who has been standing directly behind me. Quickly pulling my professional self together I inform his wife that Lenord still is not quite finish behind the curtain and I am sure they will be running more tests. Write down my phone number on her Kleenex no less and ask to be called as soon as she has more information. She happily agrees with my assessment and I leave the ER with the small amount of dignity I have left. Making my way down the hallway to the OR, blood drained from face and embarrassed beyond words I find a chair.

Thursday morning as I come through the double doors to work there is Lenord cleaning the kitchen, “Hi Eileen, its Thursday”

“Hi Lenord, it is Thursday, thanks”.

Yes, my small professional world is back on its axis, Lenord is back at work, calling hello to each one of us. Lenord is true to himself as we all should be. He is teaching me to get over myself and laugh at my own ridiculousness. Lenord belongs to the OR; he brings a balance that all so-called “professional” environments need, the yin/yang effect. It takes a TEAM to work in the Health Care industry and Lenord is part of our team.

Thanks Lenord!

GREAT NEWS

It's official, Nathan is a GRADUATE! Not just one degree but TWO.

Seems on Tuesday when Nate went to sign up for his finial 3 classes the school realized they had made a mistake. He needed NO more classes and will be awarded degrees in both English Lit. and Philosophy on May 8,2010.

We are so happy and proud of him as he is for himself. Yes their will be a party in Chicago on his commencement day!

Eviction Notice and Cleaning

Cleaning continues……….

Once I start I am like a possessed women, and take the challenge to a higher level. It is ME vs dust, dirt, and anything else I deem unclean.

I have read stories of women in the past that would clean their houses from top to bottom twice a year. They had to, due to the coal and or wood burning to heat the home. The soot that was left on every nook, cranny, and surface had to be cleaned completely after the long winters. To the cleaning degree of white washing the walls every spring. The house was emptied and washed inside out and upside down, and then everything was put back into its place. Yes everything had a place, no willy nilly throwing things on the floor or under the sofa, but rather in a well thought out place for that one item. If an item had no purpose, well it was never bought let alone allowed in the home. These homes were well organized and met all daily, monthly, yearly needs, a very serious business indeed.

Well truth be told I have not turned my house upside down nor inside out in a number of years. What I do have down to a science is to find places to put more stuff. I read too many “where to find more storage in your home” books, took every suggestion to heart I did. I have a table with a tablecloth on it that is really boxes of stored oatmeal, sugar and flour. I am storing this for the Armageddon that it sure to come, better to be prepared than caught with one’s pants down. Due to all my preparedness I own a home that under the right circumstances a spark would turn this building into a fiery tinderbox. Something we Westerner’s are proud of, the ability to buy and store things either we have no need of or use for but we are ever prepared for the “who knows what” in life.

Cleaning upstairs, I cleaned everything, the baseboards, walls, ceilings and under beds. I evicted several families of 8 legged creatures and no I did not use anti-cruelty traps, I sucked them right up into the vacuum cleaner with their terminated leases to boot.

Cleaning is WAR and war can get very unfriendly and unfeeling. If I felt any sentiment for those 8 legged creatures I would have had to throw all the shoes, boxes, books, purses and saved treasures back under the beds and dressers giving the 8 legged creatures squatting rights again. No way, that vacuum whined and sucked till every last one of the unwanted tenants were gone. I shook out my apron with an undulated motion satisfied. A day’s work well done!

A New Beginning and Granny Panties

Today I start what I am calling my new beginning, that is life with out having to be at the hospital 4 days a week. I am now half time, working for health insurance and tuition for my very intelligent children.

As I contemplate what to do with my time and looked around my house it hits me like a bomb! Get most of this “crap” out of here so I can think and not suffocate. I feel as if I am drowning in “stuff”. So up the stairs to the bedroom and the monster called the dresser, my dresser that is,( I will not be helping my mate breathe easier at this time), will be my first target.

As I unceremoniously empty the drawers on the floor I have to laugh at myself. The underwear apparel drawer being the most interesting with memories, some long ago and some very recently. I will tell about the most recent since it is still clear in my mind as to the logic of these purchases.

The fam damily went to China this past summer to visit my daughter. Having been armed with the information that the Chinese do not use western toilets but squatters and that toilet paper was something to be packed, I felt I needed to really prepare myself. So the planning began… 20 boxes of small packages of wet wipes , 20 bottles of germ killing gel and 28 pairs of cheap granny panties. I had also practiced squatting for months prior to our departure. 30 years as an OR nurse was taking it’s toll on my knees. Bags packed, half with the above mentioned, 3 outfits and the other half of the suitcase with drugs. A hazard working in a hospital with Doctors and PA’s with prescription writing privileges. They feared the worse for me and were sure I would return with some rare and not so rare diseases. As this did happen the last time I left the country I filled every scrip with the capabilities to treat every person I met from here to China and back.

The thought beyond the granny panties, the squatting exercises were going so- so, and I had a very logical, rational fear of falling in the squatter. So one pair of panties per day and a couple of extra just in case the thinkable happened. My strategy was that at the end of the day I would throw out the panties and shake out a new pair for the following day’s adventure. Well, for all you unbelievers there is a God in heaven, I am here to testify that I came home with 27 pairs of granny panties and not one mishap in the squatter!

Now back to cleaning out the dresser. I had planned to throw away these granny panties in China but they became sort of a badge of courage for me, I went, I saw, I squatted and had a wonderful time with my family in China. As I smile and fold my granny panties neatly to be placed back in the draw I think, these are to be kept and remembered fondly of my trip to China!

The lost pair, I am sure are being used as a curtain somewhere in The Republic of China.

January

I love January!

The cold Temperatures

Clean White Snow

Wrapping up in Knit wear

Quilting

Knitting

And 31 years of being married to my Best Friend!

Flowers on my anniversary.

January is the month I like to hibernate, read, think, organize and just simply enjoy the slowness of the month. Nothing has to be done and nobody is moving too fast.

Ah breathe and relax !

Christmas Pictures

Christmas 2009.

Caitlin can't wait to have you home for Christmas 2010!

As well as all my children around the table for good food and conversation.

Always saving a chair for my 3 children!

STASH SATURATION 1

Hello and Happy New Year. Sorry about the quite blog for the past two months, working way too much and things to deal with. But I hope to get my mojo back and keep you informed.

I actually have 2010 planned out on paper and calendar. I thought the need to do this because I am suffering from "stash saturation" both in fabric and yarn. We will not even talk about scrap-booking at this time. I have also planned out my vegie and flower garden.

The really great news is I am only going to work part time, that is 20 hours a week at the hospital. Oh Glory Be!!!! I am really burned out as a nurse and need a break.

Some of my plans are:

* Finish knitting projects, more about that later.

*Sister's week-end quilt project. We will be making a Bonnie Blue reproduction ,x5.

* Learn how to cook, I can bake but have never really learned to cook.

* Adventurous gardening, more later.

* Counting the days my daughter comes home!!!

* Living more simply, using less resources.

Ok , hope to hear from everyone in comments.

Here is a simply way to keep the flu virus out of your house.

Take one unpealed yellow onion put it on a plate, placing several around your house. Do not forget the bedroom.