I'm feeling happy and content. It's a good feeling and makes me feel like doing something, but, alas, I'm also tired since I got up early today. I did go into work, clocked in, and then found that I wasn't supposed to be there, but no one bothered to tell me. So I asked my boss if I could go home and she agreed. It was better that way since my arms have been aching all day from injections yesterday. It'll be fine in the morning I'm certain.
At home, I called all my patients for this week, changed an eye appointment till March, and then called for appointments next week in PT. The rest of the day I sort of rested.. I made soup again tonite.. Broccoli and wild rice.. it was surprisingly very good. I took my time with every detail today, and tonite sat down and watched 'the Three Musketeers' on the VCR. I had my afghan on my lap and put rows and rows on it while I watched the movie.
The afghan is getting bigger.. but I don't think it'll make it for MY bed.. perhaps one of the girls.. grand daughters. I don't know. I'll have to wait and see how big it is when I run out of yarn..

As I said, I'm quite tired and need to go to bed..

11am to 7pm today.. that's my gainful employment.. Not the nicest shift to work for sure. It ruins a perfectly good day in my estimation. I'm up at 6am getting ready to go, and then spend all day at work, arriving home by 8pm tired and ready for bed. No, I don't care for this shift at all.
There is an upside to it however, and that is that working it means I'm the extra person that day and the likelihood of being asked to stay home is very good. But it's not 'my day' to do what I please, for if they do ask me to stay home, it will be in 4 hour increments and I'd be on call for all those hours... have to be ready to go at the drop of a hat. At this point, I'd be glad for it anyway.
As the doctor told me yesterday.."your shoulders are going to ache a bit tomorrow".. and he was correct. Not enough to take the pain meds, but enough to be bothersome. He suggested resting them a day or so if possible, so I'm praying for the day off to do just that. We shall see in the next hours.

I'm enjoying crochetting.. My practice granny square has gotten out of control, and is now a little over 3' wide! I have the yarn to do a good bit more, bought on sale at a very good price, and actually had to buy Joyce a new skein of yarn to be able to teach her. Sandi has sent me more patterns which I want to try.. all are simple and that's what I need about now.. simplicity. I've seen pictures of her afghans, and they are quite elegant. Thanks, Sandi!!!!

Gotta get moving here.. time is of the essence.. I'm not used to getting ready for work in the morning except on my office days and that's a bit different from today.
Have a super day bloggers!

WHERE DOES IT HURT?

No, this wasn't me today.. I actually welcomed the 2 shots in both of my shoulders that now have the pain under control. As anticipated, no surgery will be done at least in the near future unless I really do something dumb and mess it all up. My orthopedist looked at the MRIs and the Xrays and saw what he was looking for after taking a brief history from me.. spurs! YIKE! Sharp little spurs that scratch away at my rotator tendons from both sides and finally cause a tear. He is opposed to surgery right now though he has not ruled it out for future of course. But for now, the cortisone injections and then PT 2-3 x a week starting next week. He thinks this will take care of the present problem. I am encouraged.

Tonite we are having home made potato soup.. I just tasted a sip of it, and it's probably the best I've ever made. Oh, so very yummy! Wish I had a recipe for it.. or at the least , had written down what I put in it..
I guess I'll go try a bowl... mmm mmm good!

It was another good night at the hospital last evening. All went well even with admissions. There weren't many, and I believe I had 3 .. all after 7pm, and well spaced. Too bad that can't happen more often.

It's 55 degrees outside and to be 64 today. WOW! Springy type weather.. but I'm not fooled, this is just the annual January 'thaw'. February will bring the bad weather, which is really not bad as it is a necessity to have the cold spells to kill the viruses floating around. Have you had a flu shot?

Today is my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. I don't believe I'll have the surgery, but I have to make the visit anyway. Wendell and I plan to go to lunch and then he'll go with me to the doctor.. More on that tonite.

I believe I have 9 more working days to go.. Yippee!

Have a great day, bloggers.. pray for us please..

I can honestly say that last evening was one of the best evenings I've had at work for a long time as far as staff and workload go. The charge person sets the pace for the department, and if she/he is comfortable and confident in that spot, things tend to go well even on the worst of days. The same goes for the secretary who actually keeps things running smoothly as long as he/she doesn't become totally overwhelmed. Last night was the perfect example. Patients were unruly, and the suggestion of a full moon was brought up, but the department ran smoothly otherwise.
I am gainfully employed again today, though I'd rather be in church. This is definitely one of the things I will NOT miss.. work every other weekend. One more working weekend to go.
I never thought I'd get this far, but here it is.

I'm thinking about things we can do for Gramma Camp this year. I'm considering a paper tepee or a cardboard castle.. any thoughts on that? These would be lifesize and large..
Do you remember pet rocks? I think we should do that too.. I think they are cute!
Perhaps newspaper baskets?

Time to hit the shower..

and the number for today is...

That's the number for today..
Chilly here.. 35- hovering over the freezing point. One really can't tell except it's cold.
The weekend has arrived.

There was a glitch in my retirement information. UGH.. but it won't be a major obstacle. The paperwork they sent had my birthdate wrong..totally.. not even close. When I called in to find out what the scoop was, we also determined that the paperwork they sent me was for someone who was applying for straight COBRA insurance and not the bridge insurance that I was supposed to have. It was a matter of about $500 more per month we would have been paying after I retired for our medical insurance. So new paperwork is being issued and this should straighten out the problems.
If that's the only problem we have, it can be considered a 'bump in the road'.
John is helping us with our new budget. It's gonna be a little tight for a while till we get organized, but it'll work with God's help and His blessing.

I had my first 'gas pump shock' yesterday when I filled the tank on our car. It's a little car, and when we first bought it, it took $9 to fill it on an empty tank. Yesterday, it was over $25 !!!
YIKE!!! And the tank wasn't empty! My little Honda gets super gas mileage thankfully..no gas hog here.

I was thinking that we should have our first NY resolution as
1. following the budget carefully
Sounds like a good idea, eh?

On to the day.. time to hit the shower!

Having a cup of coffee here.. I like that in the morning. It's a chilly one today. 18 degrees at the moment.. but no snow, so I'm a happy camper here!
I'm also happy because today marks 28 days till I'm terminated at the hospital. And.. only 12 of those are gainful employment days.. Getting closer.
Smiling all the way.. at least so far. I don't believe it will change..
Today is one of those days, and when it's over, there will be only 11 days to go.
Even though my official day is January 31, my last official day to work will be January 28, so it's really much closer than I mention above- more like 25 days.
I am content as long as there is no big snowstorm arriving.

This is also my weekend to work. UGH.. Soon, very soon, I will have all my weekends to do the things that I desire to do .. like going to church for instance. As I think about it, there will be 1 more weekend I'll have to work.. and then no more!!

I have to say that I've been considering NY resolutions, and can't come up with any good ones that I can decide on- too many changes coming up, and I don't really know how things will be.
I do know that my days are much more pleasant knowing I will have the time I've always wanted. It seems like my entire life has centered around a hospital schedule. Indeed, no matter what plans I have had for the past 30 years.. it's all been a matter of checking the schedule to see if I had to work or not.

Joyce wants to learn to crochet. She's asked ME to teach her. I am so honored. So yesterday I stopped on my way home from the office and bought her hooks, yarn, and a book to instruct. I haven't picked up a crochet hook for many many years, but I figured I'd better 'brush up' on it if I was going to teach someone else.. so I bought myself a skein of yarn too, and last night made a granny square 12" x 12".. just to refresh my memory. It's amazing how my fingers remembered how to do the stitches with just a little coaxing.
Who knows, I may just get 'into' this again myself and end up with a new sweater or an afghan for our new home.
My friend Sandi is the 'crochet queen' and she actually teaches a class to others to help them get started. You can check out her blogsite , Hugs & Stitches. You can see how many scarves, mittens, hats and the many afghans she and her group make for the homeless. Amazing and wonderful things come from this group of women- and all for charity. They do take donations of yarn, but request no wool yarns. So if you have a store of it and don't know what to do with it.. let me know.. I'll get it to them. It all goes to a worthy cause.

Gotta get a move on .. things to do.. places to go... people to see.. phone calls need made this morning and the morning is fast passing me by.

ANNABELLE'S BIRTHDAY

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY
ANNABELLE
JANUARY 4

Presently, my very favorite picture.. a very happy, smiling baby
with chocolate on her face from her birthday cake..
The truth be known, I wish I could do that.. hehehehe

Birthday presents

Annabelle ROCKS!!!!

David, older brother and really proficient in getting gift wrap off packages,
gives a few pointers to Annabelle~ really quite the helper.

Modeling one of her several new outfits..

Oh.. My First Purse and all the accessories!!

Sippy Cup.. she's reading the caution label on the back:
Caution- do not use while sleeping
or
Caution- cup is breakable if hit with cement block..
and other crazy warnings..
But it's always best to read the label..

You see the little red sleeve of David's in a lot of the pictures. When we were about done partying, John made us all a CD of the day. We popped it into the DVD player and looked at all the pictures. David was so excited.. "Gramma! That's ME!!! That's my arm helping Annabelle!"

New jacket and sippy cup

Lots of new duds.. and a big brother right there to help if she needs him.

It's all about cake

Cake is great on birthdays .. especially 1st birthdays when the little ones get their own 'smash' cake.. There is always a reserve cake for others..

Annabelle's smash cake was chocolate..
We all sang 'happy birthday' to her, and then somehow the candle went out..
David may have been breathing heavily in the vicinity. I don't think Annabelle did the blowing however..

"Well....maybe just a little taste".....
Oh, so good

"It's MINE! ALL MINE!!!!"

I believe she liked her first birthday cake..

A fun and crafty day

Today , Annabelle joined the big kids in her first craft session. She had self sticking farm animals and as I peeled the papers off the backs, she pasted them on paper.. sounds simple enough, but...
Most of the stickers stuck to the paper...

And then others got stuck on her fingers, hands, shirt, and almost her hair.. eeekkk!!!
She never fussed though and took it all in stride. She was very interested in the little critters and liked sticking them on her paper.

David likes to do crafts too, so I try to select ones that fit his age. Today I cut out a tree from fun foam (thank you, Sandi) and gave him a pile of loose stickers to decorate it.
He did a wonderful job, and was quite proud of himself.

the Christmas Train

This one is Joyce's she made last night. Paul 2 was making one of his own to match it.

David had cake on his face..

Daniel and David play with Star Wars characters

It was such a fun afternoon..
Joyce asked me what Mandy got me for Christmas.. I excitedly told her "tea towels!!!" I love new ones and the holiday ones just make me smile all over.. I had forgotten to mention that the Z's also gave me the little critter above.. he's a squirrel and he has a nut in his paws. He sings "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas".. and the kids loved him!

Jane and John took all the pictures today.. thank you, both of you.

It's a family thing.. P2, A, Charlie, and J

David was enjoying whatever John had on his camera.. hmmmmm...

Joyce at the table with the gifts, cake and balloons

Mandy and David..

Paul 2 and Annabelle having lunch.. it was mashed potatoes, sauerkraut.. and you know the rest.. It's traditional NY day fare.

Joyce, Mandy and JJ

Daniel had mashed potatoes

HAPPY NEW YEAR

January 1, 2008.. that's today! Happy New Year wishes to all my family and blogger buddies!
Joyce and I watched the big ball drop in Times Square. On the TV, that is.. we aren't crazy enough to make that trip to watch a ball come down at the stroke of midnight. No, I will watch it on the TV..
Today we shall enjoy the company of our family with a noon meal. As per tradition, we have sauerkraut and pork and kielbassi with mashed potatoes. Paul made the kraut.. it's always delicious. Thanks Paul !!!
Joyce is going to help me set things up in the morning. We have lots of food here and it should be more than enough to feed a large crowd.
Resolutions anyone?
I have my own "list"... I'll not share it yet, but perhaps tomorrow. I'm tired and need to sleep.