What A Week

It's been a crazy week. I feel like I'm all over the place -- mentally, physically, the whole kit-n-kaboodle. (What does that mean anyway?)
A few weeks ago I was planning and looking forward to a trip to visit a friend over the upcoming long weekend. Then plans were changed for my sister-in-law renewing her vows (short story version). Still could travel, just had to delay things. But hey, that's a happy reason, so I can't complain. As the work week approached there was just a mental craziness, trying to adjust my schedule to make up some hours for the short week (added on top of an atypical routine for the child I work with, thus a strange routine for myself as well...) I don't know about you, but Sunday morning rolls in & I'm already thinking about work. (Just can't ever enjoy the last day off -- why is that?!?!) Anyway, get myself settled into my "odd" week, the as I'm getting myself ready for bed Monday night, we have sad news hit... Keith's Grandmother passed away. Painlessly & with a long loving life behind her. And with many, many loved ones to cherish her in their memories -- 9 children of her own, their children and her children's children. (I think there were 26 great-grandchildren mentioned in the newspaper.)
After the large (& by that I mean HUGE) gathering of people to celebrate Leona's life I was able to continue with my travels & visit loved ones. Now I sit across the room as KC sleeps off a headache -- nothing exciting, just motherhood... that & a late night of sharing a good movie & (an attempt at) highlighting her hair.
It's been a long week.

Homer says, "...

Happy Halloween!"

It's all about the presentation

Mummy Dogs...

Ok, this just makes me smile. What can I say, I'm easily amused. If I didn't know about it & someone put this in front of me, I would make me laugh. :)

A Chuckle To Share

EMBARRASSING MEDICAL EXAMS FOR ALL YOU MEDICALLY MINDED PEOPLE!

1. A man comes into the ER and yells, "My wife's going to have her baby In the cab!" I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's Dress, and began to take off her underwear. Suddenly, I noticed that there Were several cabs -- and I was in the wrong one.
Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio , TX

2. At the beginning of my shift, I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's interior chest wall. "Big breaths," I instructed. "Yes, they used to be," replied the patient.
Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle , WA

3. One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a "massive internal fart."
Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg

4. During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his Cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications. "Which one?" I asked. "The patch, the nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours, and now I'm running out of places to put it!" I had him quickly undress, and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body! Now, the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.
Submitted by Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk , VA

5. While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, "How long have you been bedridden?" After a look of complete confusion, she answered..."Why, not for about twenty years -- when my husband was alive."
Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson, Corvallis , OR

6. I was caring for a woman and asked, "So, how's your breakfast this morning?" "It's very good, except for the Kentucky Jelly. I can't seem to get used to the taste," the patient replied. I then asked to see the jelly, and the woman produced a foil packet labeled "KY Jelly."
Submitted by Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit , MI

7. A nurse was on duty in the emergency room when a young woman with purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered. It was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery. When she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green, and above it there was a tattoo that read, "Keep off the grass." Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient's dressing, which said, "Sorry, had to mow the lawn."
Submitted by RN, no name

AND FINALLY!!!............
8. As a new, young MD doing his residency in OB, I was quite embarrassed when performing female pelvic exams. To cover my embarrassment, I had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly. The middle-aged lady upon whom I was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassing me. I looked up from my work and sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. Was I tickling you?" She replied, "No doctor, but the song you were whistling was, "I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener."
Doctor wouldn't submit his name (Can't blame him!)

Random Bits

I survived the first week of my dreaded paperwork at work. I think I'll live. Enough of the good news... That tone (if you could hear the voice in my head) directly relates to how I've been feeling lately. Feeling Blah, Blue & Green in general.

First for the "Blahs". I've had headaches since last Thursday. I made it through Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday last week with no headaches. And each morning there was fog. (Fog usually translates into sinus headaches -- pressure in the atmosphere, means it's in my head as well.) Well Thursday morning driving to work I actually pieced that together & felt pretty good. (The lack of headaches that is.) Looks like I jinxed myself, because a doozy of one hit me not too much later. Had it still Friday. And had it again Saturday. Not that I'm heartbroken over it, but I guess I missed out on a fun social event right outside my backdoor that night. I was content resting in the dark & quiet, so I'm fine with that.

I don't really recall having a headache yesterday. I may have, but all it really amounted to was the "Blues" for me. I just felt so down in the dumps. No matter what I did I felt miserable. I tried to get some of the unfinished cleaning done, but didn't get very far. (Fortunately I put a good dent in it Saturday.) ... Has house cleaning ever made you mad? I don't mean simply angry, but drove you slightly crazy. That's where I was at yesterday. I got to the point where I had to stop because I felt even worse than before I started.

As usual for a Sunday night, I had a hard time falling asleep. Needless to say, I didn't get enough. So today I was tired & I had another headache. Yippee.

Back to the feeling "Green" part. I'm so ready for a vacation. And what do I get to see, but fun filled vacation pictures from others... my dad was in Niagara & my cousin was on a cruise. All I can do is continue to look forward to our Florida trip in January. When we were in the planning/booking stage, I was definitely excited about it, but that's all done, so all I can do is count down the time. Two months & 27 days to go.


My grandmother sent me a photo of my (other) cousin's little girl, Jasmine. It's only the second picture I've seen of her... Cutie, isn't she?
So tonight I heated up some cider for myself. I do my typical doctoring to it -- make a spice mix of cinnamon, allspice & clove to give it some more flavor. When I broke the cinnamon stick to get it to fit in my tea ball some paper came out of it. Odd. Then as I unrolled it, I realized there were words on it. But not in English. Any thoughts? I think it's very strange. Smelled good though.

My day

I was picturing Ziggy opening the blinds one morning, only to find the sun giving him a raspberry. But I couldn't find it. This is all I could really find. (If you know the character, you may be able to picture the comic I'm thinking of.)



*Sigh* I really, rEaLlY, REALLY dislike my new paperwork.

Hi, I'm a Blog Slacker

I admit it. I've been slacking as of late. No rhyme or reason for it. Simply an observable consequence of the behavior. Blogging behavior being the target behavior.

Ok, so some bitterness is escaping from me. This would be from the new paper work we received in the mail the first week of October. Then addressed at our training on the 6th. I have to start using it tomorrow. Lack of excitement on my part. I won't go into anymore detail because that wouldn't be very professional of me. Let's just leave it at 'the paperwork is not thrilling me.'

I did come across something good this week: oven baked french toast. Not only was it nice to use the oven on these suddenly colder days (um, what is up with that!), but it tasted really (REALLY) good. Plus there was no flipping involved. For some reason I have problems with making french toast. It just doesn't turn out the way I want it to. Since it was a very tasty recipe, I will share it with you.

Baked French Toast

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

4 slices of bread, thick

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

- -- --- -- -

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. Lightly beat eggs with a fork in a shallow bowl. Whisk in milk, sugar, vanilla & cinnamon.

3. Soak bread in egg mixture, then transfer to baking sheet. Sprinkle with butter and bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes.

[Personal variations: I sprinkled the slices with more cinnamon & sugar because the first slice always has the most cinnamon & the others get jealous! (I like them to have a lot of cinnamon.) And instead of cutting pieces of butter, I cut a very thin slice & put it on the middle of each piece of bread. (I'm sure the cut pieces make it a tad healthier, but I was going for ease.)]

I haven't been doing much with the garden as late. I think I burnt myself out with all the rock digging. Basically I accomplished what I wanted to, moving the things in the back about. However, I would have liked to have moved some things from the front to the back as well. The cold weather is not encouraging me to get out there though. (Plus we've had some rainy days & I'm not into playing in the mud.)

I was bummed that I missed out on going to the Fall Foliage Festival in Bedford this year. I haven't been there for quite some time & thought this might be the year to get back. It was the same weekend of the training. That & the Applefest in Franklin. A fellow blogger had posted about it & I thought it looked promising. It too was the same weekend. And I realize there's more than one day in the weekend, but I don't like spending all day Sunday traveling in the car. I think it's a mental rebellion for having to get up & go to work the next day. I like to be in my PJs for a good time before getting moving on Sundays. (I get a lot of house work done in my PJs!) . . . So let that be known to people who want to plan events that are out of my area (that want me to attend that is) -- Saturdays are my day trip days. :)

With that, I think my washer is ending it's spin cycle... Laundry calls.

I will try to be less of a slacker. Hopefully I'll have some exciting (or at least less than dull) events to write about. That always makes it a bit more motivating.

P.P. (Post Posting, versus Post Script)
I went back to add links for the festivals & realized the Fall Foliage Festival was also this weekend!!!! ARGH. I did not know that. The cruelty. The irritation. Ignorance was much less irritating.

Humorous

*Post Posting Direction for Reader's Benefit: Scroll down, click on the play button to initialize it, the push pause. That way it's closer to being viewable by the time you get to it.

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Sorry folks, I see it has been a while. Unfortunately I don't really know what I've been preoccupied with. So I can't offer any fascinating stories to fill in the gaps.

I do however, have some humor to share. This past weekend Keith & I went to Ikea to do some perusing for bedroom furniture. He's been wanting that for quite some time. And I have to admit, it would be nice to have my clothes all in one room. (Much of my stuff is located in the "little room" as I like to call it. Or you can call it the computer/craft/guest room. Whichever is easier for ya!) Anywho... (where was I?) We've been looking locally and can't find much. What I really (REALLY) like, is entirely too expensive, and what is priced right, is pretty ugly. Ikea to our rescue. We found stuff we liked, did measuring & guessing on what we could use, brought back catalogs galore & got to work figuring out, well, what would work. So hopefully one of these weekends we'll get back & actually get something brought home with us.

Oh yeah, had a funny to share, that was more of what occupied my time... (I'm tired, forgive me.) On the way to Ikea we weren't in the best of moods & I found a pick me up in a unexpected place -- my tea bottle! I'll let it speak for itself. Ok, it doesn't really talk, you'll have to read it...

My other bit of humor is TV related. I've seen two episodes of The Big Bang Theory & I've been quite amused with both of them. Tonight we were up at Bed Bath & Beyond and came across a voice changer. I immediately started laughing & had to tell Keith about the scene with the OCD roommate cleaning the neighbor's apartment with his "low voice" to keep her from waking. I can't explain the whole episode, but I did find a clip that is a good overview (& you can hear a bit of his LOW VOICE!)

(Everybody walk around talking in their LOW VOICE -- you know you want to!)

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*Post Posting PS of sorts: When I went to check the post, I tried clicking on the tea label to make it larger & thus readable, but it wouldn't work... In case you can't read it too:

Heavenly Honey Green

We won't sweet talk you. We'll just say two words: Epigallocatechin gallate. It may not have the ring of "sweetheart" but EGCG is the most potent antioxidant around, and our organic green tea is packed with it. Sure, we added a kiss of honey to our tea, but not enough to gross you out. If we wanted to do that we'd tell you honey is flower nectar that bees regurgitate. Hey, we're Honest Tea; we don't lie. ... PS Organic apiaries must be at least two miles from any pollution source -- even a golf course -- so bees won't be exposed to pesticides and fertilizers. Golf balls are another issue.

Then on the back of the label it says: "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic." -- Unknown