Nov.30,2005

This is an absolutely beautiful pic that Sister Sue sent,wanted to share it!

Well, it's apparently official now....Kyle is moving back in with me. Wondered if it would work out, sorry that it hasn't & that's OK. Just have to hope there's no hard feelings...he's young yet. And darn, this means I have to move all the stuff out of the spare room!LOL.

Tony's truck turned out to be NOT fixed yesterday, so guess he will be shoppping for a new vehicle....no sense putting any more money into this one.

I work the next two days, but then have the weekend off,yay. I am currently cooking an accidentally purchased sweet potato pie....someone(not me) thought they were picking up a pumpkin pie.Don't even know if anyone LIKES sweet potato pie,lol. Guess we'll find out, huh?

Terry has a cute story posted on her blog, go check it out, & for those of you in our family.....does it remind anyone of the 'mole' incident??With a mole loose in the basement of the house in Parchment, & lots of shrieking,etc. as it ran around & Dad chased it. Ah, the memories:)

Catching Up

One of the soldiers I've met through anysoldier.com sends awesome pics of Iraq, thought I'd share:)

Sorry that I don't post when I work several 12 hour days back to back....gee, wonder why I don't?lol. It's because when I finally make it home, I just want to veg playing Mahjongg(addicted, where are the Mahjongg 12 step groups?)before I go to bed to get back up & do it all again.

Interesting end to the day at work yesterday, the call bell system went out again. It had gone out of service on Thanksgiving, which led to someones' family member getting in my face & screaming at me after I had only been there 15 minutes on Thanksgiving. (and I only worked 4 hours:)Some family members respond to the guilt of placing their loved one in a nursing home by screaming at the staff....lucky us.

Anyway, the humorous thing was my CNA's told me"hey, the bells are not working" so I went over to the other unit where the computer is to see if I could figure it out...there was a screen that said "Press Contol,Alt,Delete"....I'm capable of doing that! however, there was NO KEYBOARD!I'm looking around for the keyboard & trying to figure out how to press control,alt delete WITHOUT a keyboard??

The other nurse comes up & I say'hey,how do we do this without a keyboard?" Well, we tried to hook up the keyboard from the other computer, but that didn't work either. I start saying"we're going to have to call the help desk." The third nurse walks up & I say'hey, check this out" her face just registers total shock...'where's the keyboard?"

I place the call to the help desk, & THAT guy is shocked 'why don't you have a keyboard?'Me'I don't know'. He is saying 'I don't know how to tell you how to fix this without a keyboard, how do I fix this?' I am falling down laughing,I say"I am talking to the HELP desk, and YOU are asking ME for help???!!"He starts cracking up,too.

Then he tries to spell my name after he asks me for it,I keep saying S-E-E' he is trying to add a C and all kinds of stuff. This is my computer expert, who can't spell a 3 letter name??I finally say,'look, it's just too easy....S-E-E....as in see the dog run' He's like'OH!',he finally gets it.We are getting sidetracked by the name I have been saddled with due to my former marriage from the main issue..which is, without the call bell system, we have no way of knowing which patient is calling for assistance!

The next shift nurse arrives for report & I give up...I am handing this call-bell dilemma off to someone else and going home. My day started out with sending a patient to the ER with chest pains promptly at 7 a.m cause it was a new graduate nurse working night shift & she didn't catch on to the seriousness of the situation. I'm not bitching, I was new once,too and that's how you learn what's serious and what's not.

But this meant that I did not get report in the morning until almost 7:45, which means I was an hour late getting started on my day! I never caught up with myself, until just in time to discover the missing keyboard. In another addition of 'dorks r us', I also managed while trying to give a tube feeding to knock over the container of tube feeding onto the floor instead of pouring it into the tube...my little lady I was trying to feed was laughing hysterically, glad I could make someone's day a little brighter:)

Our belated Thanksgiving was wonderful, thanks to Tony who handled all the cooking!Ben & Kyle floated by at different times to catch the leftovers.

One of my other soldiers has become my 'Iraqi connection', she read that we were trying to get 'Lost' on DVD for April(which we did, thanks to the Sam Goody kids in the family)and said she can get DVD's over there....I told her to look for CSI for my little fanatic.I am bummed that she got extended to being over there thru Christmas, but their mail stop was Nov.1, so no way to send a card or package...am sure SHE is much more bummed!!!

We already heard back from one of the groups we sent a package to,so that was nice(that the package made it) I have volunteered to pick up 2 extra names a week to write to for awhile for Soldier's Angels, they are getting inundated with extra names.(plus this will help use up my 37 cent stamps before the increase...see, it's really 'all about me':)

I am getting ready to be a helpful mom & do Kyle's laundry for him,he is backed up on laundry & working lots of hours....Tony said"I knew it was coming sooner or later!that you'd do his laundry!"Tony's truck part is FINALLY sposed to be done today,yay!

Well, if you have gone to sleep, you can wake up, because I'm done now!!! Love to all. Kath

2 years ago

Two years ago today we were in HAWAII to see Kirby & Takaho joined in marriage. Wish I was in Hawaii today, don't you?

I am currently boiling up fresh pork ribs from where my ex-husband butchered a hog(the boys gave me the ribs, don't tell,lol)so that I can cook them in the crock pot ALL DAY.....ummmmmmm.My house will smell good.

yes,it stinks that I have to spend almost two hours driving to go to work tomorrow for only 4 hours...but at least I am not serving in a war zone in a foreign country! Remember our deployed soldiers in your prayers.

We will have our Thanksgining on Friday, I reckon. And then I work the weekend,yee ha.

My Interesting Job

I have the most interesting job sometimes. Day before yesterday, I'm standing at the med cart & the housekeeper comes up & says "I'm concerned about something in Mr.So and So's room."

She proceeds to tell me that for several days, there had been a plastic bag on a stand in the corner & that day when she was cleaning she decided to look in the bag because she thought it might be food. To her horror, she discovered an extremely LARGE butcher knife!!

Well, I tell the social worker, & then go back to the room with the housekeeper for her to divert the gentleman while I remove the knife. Keep in mind that this patient has recently been very paranoid and very angry!Well, he sees me taking the bag out, & yells at me,"If you remove that, you are going to jail!" I reply "I'm sorry sir, I have to take this out for safety, we are giving it to the social worker & she will get it to your daughter."

When I carry it out in the hall & unwrap it, I,too, am horrified at the size of this knife. and the thought that it's been in the room of a paranoid,angry gentleman!!I take it up the hall to the social worker's office, & she is at that moment on the phone with the daughter who is saying"I don't remember bringing a knife in, but if I did, it's just a little table knife" & I am unwrapping the knife again to show it to the social worker, whose eyes are as big as saucers as she's realizing how extremely large this knife is.!She gulps & tells the daughter"It's a little bigger than a table knife!We'll keep it in my office until the next time you come in and get it back to you."

You just never know what will happen when you go to work!!!

Another aspect of my job that I never realized would be part of it is talking to drunken family members of my residents. We have a woman whose daughters periodically call when they get drunk...yesterday one of them called & said"I keep calling my mother's room & she's not in there!" I said,'well, she's in the activities room, but we can push her back to her room if you want to call her back in just a few minutes...I can't use this business phone as I am waiting on a call back from a doctor." she gets belligerent & says"oh, so you are blocking me from talking to my mother?!" (big sigh inside from me) I reply "no, I'm just asking you to call her back in her room in a few..."& before I can finish the sentence she says "I wish you would shut up so I can finish my sentence!" ????I reply nicely (yes, I can be tactful, I realize many will find this a shock!:) "Ma'am just give us a minute to push her back to her room and call her on her phone,please."

Unfortunately, she proceeded on her phone call to her mother to rage that she is going to 'get a lawyer' and 'take her mother out' of the facility & 'press charges' on the grandson who is the power-of-attorney. Which got my resident highly upset. It's very sad, there is a lot of money in the family & the drunken daughters are irate that the grandson(who has his grandmother's best interests at heart) is the power of attorney.

So be thankful this Thanksgiving if it's not part of your job to confiscate knives!or talk to greedy drunken family members. Be thankful if you don't HAVE drunken greedy family members!

And I am thankful for all of you!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hows YOUR day?lol

Ok this is how I looked this morning when Tony called to say his truck had broken down! "Bad hair day zombie". I had stayed up late last night after getting home from work and watching 'Lost' and 'Invasion'.....I'm a Wednesday night ABC TV baby.....I played on the computer coz I knew I could sleep in...ha ha! So of course he called at 6:30 a.m. & said'could you come pick me up?'

I rolled out of bed & threw on some sweats & grabbed some coffee...I don't even think I started waking up till I was halfway there!!!When he got in the car (after screaming LIKE A WOMAN when I drove up.....not really,lol:)I said "I didn't have time to get pretty' & I could see him trying not to laugh, finally he said'should I drive? you really don't look awake!'

By the way, is this national car trouble week and someone forgot to send me the notice?

Christmas fun

In other news....Tony and I had a great deal of fun getting together some Christmas packages to send to 4 groups from anysoldier.com.  I couldn't have done it if he wouldn't have helped me, it was something I wanted to do but couldn't justify the expense.

Anyway, he got involved by picking out the groups...he wanted groups that weren't on bases, but were 'out in the field'. Naturally we picked Virginia units to send to!:) Several of the groups we picked are actually living on Iraqi bases as they are training the Iraqi's...so they have way less amenities. He also picked the groups that mentioned giving stuff to local children, so we put stuff like coloring books & crayons in (dollar store shopping!!lol)

and he called his employer & got them to donate 60 pairs of work gloves! Yay, Riddleberger Bros.!When you go on anysoldier.com it lists how many contacts the addressee thinks he will have (like he thinks he can get stuff to 10 guys or 9 or whatever). So we were not sending to like an entire unit, which would probably be higher than I could count!(see previous entry'dorks r us':)

We also sent baby wipes..lol...my brother asked for an explanation of that! what it is, they don't always have access to showers...so they can do a quick clean up with baby wipes. (are you thinking 'EWWW', coz I did!) and we picked snacks & Christmas candy (no chocolate) & probably what the guys will like best...Tony put one of his old Maxim magazines in each box (go, soft porn:)  Of course, Tony gets them for the articles......psyche!Plus then we threw a hometown newspaper in each one....just coz they say a lot that they miss seeing local papers. (well, they're getting OUR local news, not their own...but, whatever works)

Ben donated some mags from Sam Goody, & Kyle & their roommate Justin donated some old play station 2 games for me to send a smaller box to one of 'my' Marines, a young man who is really delightful but must be dreadfully bored since he keeps corresponding with the elderly!

I mention this not to toot our horns but just to let y'all know that it was great fun to pick this stuff out & imagine these guys getting it....& if you're considering doing it yourself....there's still time to send priority mail!! which was only a dollar more than parcel post(that end date was the 12th) The DOD llink is here

Click here: DoD News: DoD Announces Recommended Holiday Mail Dates   but I can at least mention that priority mail can still be sent till Dec. 10.

Dorks R Us

Today I managed to blow a tire. I blame it on APRIL, if she wouldn't have said"what's that over there?" while I was coming around the curve I would've never looked to see what she meant....& then drifted to the RIGHT,even though I was looking to the LEFT...& then managed to hit the edge of the storm drain just exactly correctly to punch a hole in the tire. Fortunately Tony was with me, so he put on the spare...which I could have done if I had had to, I've changed tires....but this freed me up so that I was standing there while every one else drove by & looked at us as they were leaving.(We were picking up April from school.)So I could feel stupid with an audience:) And then one car slowed down & this lady leans over & said "I heard a weird noise as I was getting in my car & thought to myself...did someone blow a tire?" April says "hello, Mrs. Teacher", so I raised my hand & said 'yes, it was me! I blew a tire!"   I'm hoping tomorrow will be uneventful.

The results

Well, the 'Canned Hamlet' crowd got a 'silver' which April found disappointing, as the previous six years THMS won a 'gold'. She was also upset as the name of her character was on the critique from the judges for her lines being muffled by her mask. We tried to explain to her that that wasn't really her fault, as she had tried to tell the drama teacher that she thought the mask was muffling her lines. And that just because her name was on it, that was just problems with her CHARACTER, not anything that SHE did wrong.

I still think it was a great play, & I,too, was upset that they focused on the difficulty hearing some of her lines...because I still think she did a great job with her gestures & body language.

and they DID win a silver!!

Canned Hamlet Review

Absolutely adorable play....and they did a wonderful job. April did a fantastic job ....since she has to wear a mask (white 'scream' mask)she has to use body language along with her lines, and I was very impressed with her ability to do that. Several parents mentioned her afterwards as one of the kids who did a super job. I told April to quit worrying, that I think they will get some recognition at the competition.  Their drama teacher said they have come home with a "gold" award the last 6 years.

So, she's off to Richmond tomorrow, and the competition is Sat and then she's home Sat night.

Returned letter

Remember that name I got from Soldier's Angels wounded team that I sweated bullets over writing the letter to the guy cause it said that he had lost both legs? well, turns out the letter got returned today. it had "no record",""unclaimed" & "insufficient address" all marked on it. I checked the casualty lists & did not see the name....so have emailed them at Soldier's Angels,maybe they can figure out what happened.

It was actually horrendously depressing to read the casualty lists going all the way back to the beginning of October, by the way.

 

Tony hurt his knee at work yesterday....they think either strained or tore some cartilage. It's always something.

Well, I am off to view "Canned Hamlet"....review later!:)

cooking adventures with kathi

LOL. This is just sad....I actually started a fire while boiling tea yesterday!!!It was one of those tea bags with the tag attached, & I did not realize that the tag was hanging over the side of the pan. So I am washing up dishes & thinking to myself...."what the heck is that burning smell?"  Looked over to the stove & realized that the tag has already BURNT UP and now the fire is spreading up the string to the tea bag!!!

Well, naturally I put the burning string out...by flipping it into the tea! and then thought"that wasn't a very good idea...now the tea will taste burnt". so I just dumped the tea out & started all over again.

Yes, another edition of 'dorks-r-us'.:)

Soldier support for the Holidays

Came home sick from work yesterday,still feel like dirt today.Just a virus that's been making the rounds.

Y'all know I often speak of the things I do to support the troops. My tenative plans for the holiday season were to send Christmas cards....one to each of the Virginia units listed on anysoldier.com, & also one to each of my correspondents I've picked up through Soldier's Angels,anysoldier, or Adopt a Platoon.

Came across a blogger today who wishes Holiday Greetings sent to her to print out & put with her packages of cards.

Click here: Yikes!: CHRISTMAS IN IRAQ! I NEED YOUR HELP!   The DOD has listed mailing requirements for the holiday:   Click here: DoD News: DoD Announces Recommended Holiday Mail Dates   If you're thinking of doing something to support the troops for the holidays, here's some sites....time is running out!:)   Click here: Books For Soldiers - Care Packages For The MInd   Click here: Welcome to AdoptaPlatoon   Click here: Soldiers' Angels   My personal favorite is anysoldier.com   Click here: Any Soldier ... Any Soldier Inc. ... Care Package ... Soldier Support   Mostly because you can click on "where to send" and then if you scroll down on the right, they have a thing that says"click here to search anysoldier.com contacts", & if you use their search engine, you can check for units deployed from your state. I'm posting this cause I'd like to encourage you to do at least ONE thing for our fine young men and women serving for the holidays.....even if it's just something as simple as picking ONE unit to send ONE Christmas card to:)

Nov.2,2005

Well, I promised a pic from Senior Night, but it didn't turn out too well......disposable camera & bright football lights, I reckon.

I have added other pics to the photo albums, & THEN decided to just put the latest pics in one album....lol, so no, you are not seeing double.

I'm going to run the same blog on AOL, so it saves copying & pasting the blog entries into emails...between Yahoo and AOL, I'll catch most of the people on my email list....& then you can feel free to read or not read.

Back to work for two days tomorrow. Cannot beleive there are only two football games left, & then Dustin's high school football career will be over!

Kyle stops by almost every day...because they don't have Internet access yet,lol. I am currently doing laundry, & will have to pick April up at 4 from play practice....she has had something after school every day this week. Tomorrow night she has a handbell concert & I will miss it, forgot to ask for the day off in time. Ben said he would take her & pick her up.

She leaves Friday the 11th for Richmond, for the Young People's Theatre competition...that's where they are presenting "Canned Hamlet'. They stay over Friday night, & get home late Sat. night.Lynn saw her handbell concert last Sunday at the hospital, she took her for me & then stayed to watch.

Well, that's it for today!