Rich and I made a quick trip to Eville to visit Kim and deliver her harp this weekend. We left Friday afternoon and got home Saturday evening. We were gone just a little more than 24 hours.
We had an audiobook of Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich to listen to in the car, and it was very entertaining. Rich was laughing out loud in some spots. I've read the book, but I enjoyed hearing it read to me, and I really like that story. So that made the ride down there seem to go faster.
I had some knitting to work on in the car, too. I was almost done with a baby sweater for Kim's roomate's sister's baby boy. Got that? It's complicated. Anyway, I worked on it all the way down there and finished it in the hotel room on Saturday morning so I could give it to Kristen.
Kim was happy to get the harp, Kristen was happy to get the sweater, and we took a little side trip to the yarn store in Eville, where I got some pretty handpainted Cascade 220 to make a Wallaby for Maddy, as well as some sock yarn that was just pretty. Then we took Kim to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, the noisiest restaurant on the planet, and after lunch we set off for home. See? It was just a quick trip.
It was Maddy's first day at church, and she slept for about half of sacrament meeting, with me eagerly watching for her to wake up so I could hold her! After the meeting, Rachel and I stayed seated so that people could come over and see the new baby, and she was very much admired! (Of course she was!)
In the evening, while Ash was sleeping after he worked all weekend, Rachel brought Maddy over to visit and get some dinner with us. Maddy was bit fussy, so Rich and I took turns carrying her around to soothe her. She looks like she has gained a little weight, and Rachel is so relieved, because she is afraid the baby will have to be hospitalized for failure to thrive, because Rachel is a crazy paranoid nut about this baby!
Maddy is eating very well now, and there is no need to worry about her weight, but Rachel wanted to weigh her, just to check. I have a food scale in the kitchen, so we got that out, and put a bowl on it to weigh the baby in. Then we stripped the baby down, and Rich grabbed a wipe to clean her bum, because apparently none of us noticed she had been wearing a slightly stinky diaper.
Maddy was annoyed about the wiping (how humiliating!), and also affronted at being stripped down, but what really made her mad was when we put her in the mixing bowl on top of the scale! Also, the scale? Did not register her weight, because apparently a healthy baby and a mixing bowl together weigh more than that scale can accomadate.
So I held the angry naked baby while Rich went upstairs to get our digital bathroom scale. Rachel was laughing too hard to hold the poor baby, and the baby was so mad about the whole thing that she pooped a little on my sweater!
First we weighed Rich, then we passed him the baby and weighed both of them, and then subtracted his weight. It looks like she weighs around 6 lbs, so she is doing well, and fattening up nicely. Rich put away the scale, then he dressed the baby while I changed my sweater.
Then Rachel announced that it was time for Maddy to go home to bed, so she packed up her stuff, and took the baby home. Rich and I watched the second part of Emma on PBS, well, okay, I watched it, but Rich wandered away after about 10 minutes.
So that was my weekend, and tonight I'm back at work where it is quiet and warm, and I've got some knitting.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
In which I want to become a collector.
Every day has been the same lately - I sleep until 2-ish, wake up and go to Rachel's place to hold Maddy! Sometimes Rich goes, too, because he loves to hold a nice baby, and sometimes RA goes, because she also likes to get a baby fix.
Maddy is little and warm and her head smells sweet, but here's the thing - there's not much to journalize about! She eats, she poops, she sleeps. Then when everything is happy and quiet and she is napping, I go home so Rachel can sleep, too.
So I haven't been updating, because there is nothing to update about, but this weekend at work I was talking to Q, one of the security guards, and I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but he told me that every year he gives his wife a Holiday Barbie for Christmas!
I was surprised to hear that, because I know that Diana gets a Holiday Barbie for Christmas every year too, but I thought it was just her, I didn't know it was a universal thing! Apparently Barbie collecting is more widespread than I would have imagined.
Then Q said that he didn't get one this year, but he'd still like to, if he can find one, and he missed getting the Barbie one other year, too, back in the 90s. Because he's been giving her a Barbie every Christmas for 20 years! (Diana, how long have you been collecting them? Tell us in the comments!)
So I started looking on the internet for the 2009 Barbie, because that is a fun thing to do, and impresses people who don't make a habit of searching for miscellaneous crap on the internets every day. We found a couple of places to get a 2009 Barbie, but they were a bit more expensive, since Christmas is over, and also, he needs an African-American Barbie, which is a little harder to find.
He couldn't remember the exact year of the other one that is missing from their collection, but we looked at a couple of possible years and he thought his wife had both of those.
So tonight Q is working my shift again, and he said he told his wife we were looking, and he thinks it's the 1993 doll that she needs (because he wasn't really paying attention, so he forgot it as soon as she told him - welcome to my world, honey). So I started looking around on eBay and whatnot, and this is odd, but there are two Holiday Barbies for 1993, one in a white dress and one in a red dress! What is up with that? I think the red dress is the one we want, because it's the one that is most often shown in my searching, but why are there two colors? I wish I knew more about this mysterious business of Holiday Barbies.
I was pretty excited tonight when I found the doll on one of the sites, being sold at a reasonable price! I showed it to Q when he came through my area a while ago, and he is going to call his wife when she gets up this morning and check the year for sure, and if it's right, we'll order it.
It's been fun searching around and looking for just the right item and it kind of makes me wish I collected something! I still have a lot of coffee mugs from when I visited Diana in Utah 20 years ago when Kim was a baby, and we decided to collect mugs. I bought a few on that trip, as we travelled through different states, and over the next few years I collected a few more, like the one I bought at Ted Nugent's World of Bowhunting (!), and the one the kids brought me from Disneyworld, but I've lost the desire to collect more. I don't drink coffee, for one thing, but I use a couple of them for pencil holders - the one from the Ann Arbor Museum of Art, and one from a renaissance fair.
I have a lot of yarn, but it's not so much a collection, although some of the yarn does have a history. I either bought it in a certain place or a certain time, or someone gave it to me, but it's not quite the same thing as having a collection, one that might have gaps that you have the pleasure of filling through clever searching and bidding. Maybe I need to collect art or Barbies. Hmmm.
Maddy is little and warm and her head smells sweet, but here's the thing - there's not much to journalize about! She eats, she poops, she sleeps. Then when everything is happy and quiet and she is napping, I go home so Rachel can sleep, too.
So I haven't been updating, because there is nothing to update about, but this weekend at work I was talking to Q, one of the security guards, and I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but he told me that every year he gives his wife a Holiday Barbie for Christmas!
I was surprised to hear that, because I know that Diana gets a Holiday Barbie for Christmas every year too, but I thought it was just her, I didn't know it was a universal thing! Apparently Barbie collecting is more widespread than I would have imagined.
Then Q said that he didn't get one this year, but he'd still like to, if he can find one, and he missed getting the Barbie one other year, too, back in the 90s. Because he's been giving her a Barbie every Christmas for 20 years! (Diana, how long have you been collecting them? Tell us in the comments!)
So I started looking on the internet for the 2009 Barbie, because that is a fun thing to do, and impresses people who don't make a habit of searching for miscellaneous crap on the internets every day. We found a couple of places to get a 2009 Barbie, but they were a bit more expensive, since Christmas is over, and also, he needs an African-American Barbie, which is a little harder to find.
He couldn't remember the exact year of the other one that is missing from their collection, but we looked at a couple of possible years and he thought his wife had both of those.
So tonight Q is working my shift again, and he said he told his wife we were looking, and he thinks it's the 1993 doll that she needs (because he wasn't really paying attention, so he forgot it as soon as she told him - welcome to my world, honey). So I started looking around on eBay and whatnot, and this is odd, but there are two Holiday Barbies for 1993, one in a white dress and one in a red dress! What is up with that? I think the red dress is the one we want, because it's the one that is most often shown in my searching, but why are there two colors? I wish I knew more about this mysterious business of Holiday Barbies.
I was pretty excited tonight when I found the doll on one of the sites, being sold at a reasonable price! I showed it to Q when he came through my area a while ago, and he is going to call his wife when she gets up this morning and check the year for sure, and if it's right, we'll order it.
It's been fun searching around and looking for just the right item and it kind of makes me wish I collected something! I still have a lot of coffee mugs from when I visited Diana in Utah 20 years ago when Kim was a baby, and we decided to collect mugs. I bought a few on that trip, as we travelled through different states, and over the next few years I collected a few more, like the one I bought at Ted Nugent's World of Bowhunting (!), and the one the kids brought me from Disneyworld, but I've lost the desire to collect more. I don't drink coffee, for one thing, but I use a couple of them for pencil holders - the one from the Ann Arbor Museum of Art, and one from a renaissance fair.
I have a lot of yarn, but it's not so much a collection, although some of the yarn does have a history. I either bought it in a certain place or a certain time, or someone gave it to me, but it's not quite the same thing as having a collection, one that might have gaps that you have the pleasure of filling through clever searching and bidding. Maybe I need to collect art or Barbies. Hmmm.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
In which I offer wise counsel.
I was looking through some old email that I sent back in about 2005, trying to find a particular note I'd written, and I never did find that one, but I found some absolutely priceless stuff, including this letter that I wrote to a friend of Rachel. He wanted to go to a conference in California, but he wasn't going to go because he was afraid to fly. I completely understand because I hate and fear flying myself, so I wrote him a note of advice, and here it is:
Dear Gary,
Rachel told me you want to go to a conference but you don't like to fly, so I just wanted to tell you how I do it, because I hate flying! I just know that I'm going to die in a fiery crash every time I have to get on a plane!
First, you have to accept that you are going to die. As I get on the plane, I know in my heart that I'm going to die, and I just accept that and know that I'm as ready as I'll ever be to meet the Lord. I would have an alchoholic drink to help me deal with the whole flying thing, but since I'm going to be dying later, I don't want to face the Lord with alchohol on my breath. So I just drink a Diet Pepsi when they bring the drink cart around. Maybe water would be better, just in case caffeine IS against the Word of Wisdom like those fanatics say it is. Hmm...
Also, if you can get some Xanax, or a Valium, take it. Oh, or a Tylenol 3, because hey, the Tylenol will help if you have a stress headache, and the codeine will ease your mind. Your mom probably has some handy painkillers, didn't she just have some surgery? Heh.
Anyway, those are my tips on how to fly. And if they don't make you think I'm crazy, here's another thing I've done when we're in the air, is to pretend, absolutely seriously, that the roaring of the plane is the roaring of a train and that we're on the ground, riding in a train. Because I CANNOT think about being up in the air!! I can't think about that at all, no matter how many drugs I take!
So now you need to just cowboy up and go to the conference! It will be fun!!
Love you!
No need to thank me, I am always available to offer help and advice on almost any subject.
Dear Gary,
Rachel told me you want to go to a conference but you don't like to fly, so I just wanted to tell you how I do it, because I hate flying! I just know that I'm going to die in a fiery crash every time I have to get on a plane!
First, you have to accept that you are going to die. As I get on the plane, I know in my heart that I'm going to die, and I just accept that and know that I'm as ready as I'll ever be to meet the Lord. I would have an alchoholic drink to help me deal with the whole flying thing, but since I'm going to be dying later, I don't want to face the Lord with alchohol on my breath. So I just drink a Diet Pepsi when they bring the drink cart around. Maybe water would be better, just in case caffeine IS against the Word of Wisdom like those fanatics say it is. Hmm...
Also, if you can get some Xanax, or a Valium, take it. Oh, or a Tylenol 3, because hey, the Tylenol will help if you have a stress headache, and the codeine will ease your mind. Your mom probably has some handy painkillers, didn't she just have some surgery? Heh.
Anyway, those are my tips on how to fly. And if they don't make you think I'm crazy, here's another thing I've done when we're in the air, is to pretend, absolutely seriously, that the roaring of the plane is the roaring of a train and that we're on the ground, riding in a train. Because I CANNOT think about being up in the air!! I can't think about that at all, no matter how many drugs I take!
So now you need to just cowboy up and go to the conference! It will be fun!!
Love you!
No need to thank me, I am always available to offer help and advice on almost any subject.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
In which it is slightly colder than I expected.
It was beautiful outside today, just sunny and lovely, and I went out all day in a sweater over a t-shirt and was perfectly comfortable. I don't spend a lot of time outside, just going from my house to the car, or the car to the store, and I didn't feel cold at all.
So tonight when I was getting ready for work, I looked at my winter coat and thought about how much I didn't want to put on that bulky coat, and carry all my stuff (my big purse, my big tote bag full of books, snacks, and knitting), and I didn't feel cold at that moment, standing in the hallway of the house, so I left my coat at home.
As I left the house, I called Diana to tell her something and mentioned that I was going out without my coat because I didn't feel like wearing it, and she begged me not to, because at her house in Phoenix at that moment she was feeling a bit chilled because it was raining. I laughed, haha, and went on out to the car.
When I stepped outside, well yes, the air immediately felt very ... brisk, but I ignored it, and Diana told me to go back in and get my coat, but did I do it? I did not.
I park pretty close to the building at work, but it's a little walk across the lot to the employee entrance, and by the time I got halfway there, I was telling Diana that I missed my coat, but by then it was too late. I was good and cold by the time I got inside!
I always go straight to the internet when I get to the office, and I opened my iGoogle page, that has a feature that shows me the temperature in four places, my town, Diana's town, Scott's town, and Kim's town, and to my (stupid) surprise, it was telling me that it was only 8 degrees outside! Yeah, no wonder I was cold. Tomorrow I'll wear my coat to work.
So tonight when I was getting ready for work, I looked at my winter coat and thought about how much I didn't want to put on that bulky coat, and carry all my stuff (my big purse, my big tote bag full of books, snacks, and knitting), and I didn't feel cold at that moment, standing in the hallway of the house, so I left my coat at home.
As I left the house, I called Diana to tell her something and mentioned that I was going out without my coat because I didn't feel like wearing it, and she begged me not to, because at her house in Phoenix at that moment she was feeling a bit chilled because it was raining. I laughed, haha, and went on out to the car.
When I stepped outside, well yes, the air immediately felt very ... brisk, but I ignored it, and Diana told me to go back in and get my coat, but did I do it? I did not.
I park pretty close to the building at work, but it's a little walk across the lot to the employee entrance, and by the time I got halfway there, I was telling Diana that I missed my coat, but by then it was too late. I was good and cold by the time I got inside!
I always go straight to the internet when I get to the office, and I opened my iGoogle page, that has a feature that shows me the temperature in four places, my town, Diana's town, Scott's town, and Kim's town, and to my (stupid) surprise, it was telling me that it was only 8 degrees outside! Yeah, no wonder I was cold. Tomorrow I'll wear my coat to work.
Monday, January 18, 2010
I was off for three days and it was so much fun to go and hold Maddy every day! Today I went out with RA to get a hamburger and go to the library, and then we went to Rachel's for baby-holding while Rachel took a shower and Ash napped. I am unselfishly sharing Maddy with RA, because all of her grandchildren live far away. (Just like my other two! Hi Soren! Hi Carl!)
Speaking of Soren, he knows letters, so I made a Weasely sweater with an S on it, and it's done! I just need to wash it so the yarn can bloom, and then I'll mail it to him. I am very eager to see a picture of him wearing it, and maybe a video of him saying, "Itsa S!"
In other news...well, there isn't any other news. I haven't done anything except go to Rachel's and admire the baby. I miss Kim, but she is doing well back at school. She had the day off today and went to the City Museum with some friends, which is a big fun place - kind of like a hands-on museum for adults.
What I'm reading today:
- Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. I read Plum Spooky and it was so funny that I ordered the audiobook for Rich to listen to when we go on a driving trip to visit Kim at the end of January. I saw Plum Lucky today at the library and picked it up to read at work tonight.
What I'm knitting today:
- I'm swatching to get the gauge for Carolyn's sweater, and I think I've got it now. I'm going to use some wool I bought a few years ago at the Fiber Festival, and it's in skeins, so I need to wind it into balls before I start. I am lazy, so I usually wind the yarn one ball at a time, but then when I run out, the project is on hold until I wind more. This yarn is wound up in pretty tangly skeins, and they take a while to wind, so I want to have them all wound before I start. That will be my TV-watching project for a week or so.
- Kim left her hat at the baby shower when she was home for Christmas break, and we got the hat back after she left, but now Rich has been wearing it, so I'm going to make another one for Kim. I'm going to make the Cupcake hat from Chicknits, and I'm going to use some Malabrigo I bought a year or so ago and I was saving it for the right project.
What I'm watching today:
- We stepped down our cable subscription to the very lowest basic package, and I'm sick of only having the golf channel and the travel channel (yes, I know there are other channels, but I'm not usually awake during prime time, and there is never anything I want to watch when I am awake), so I called to have our service stepped up again. I miss the Food Network and HGTV! Also, the Winter Olympics are coming up soon, and I like to watch all the less-popular sports like curling and luge, as well as the 'big' sports like figure skating and snowboarding, and I know the network coverage of the less-popular stuff will not be enough! I need ESPN! (This is the only reason to have ESPN, as I do not care about football or whatever else they show on that station.)
Okay, now you are up to date on everything. You're welcome. Also, if you want to see baby pictures you can go here.
Speaking of Soren, he knows letters, so I made a Weasely sweater with an S on it, and it's done! I just need to wash it so the yarn can bloom, and then I'll mail it to him. I am very eager to see a picture of him wearing it, and maybe a video of him saying, "Itsa S!"
In other news...well, there isn't any other news. I haven't done anything except go to Rachel's and admire the baby. I miss Kim, but she is doing well back at school. She had the day off today and went to the City Museum with some friends, which is a big fun place - kind of like a hands-on museum for adults.
What I'm reading today:
- Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich. I read Plum Spooky and it was so funny that I ordered the audiobook for Rich to listen to when we go on a driving trip to visit Kim at the end of January. I saw Plum Lucky today at the library and picked it up to read at work tonight.
What I'm knitting today:
- I'm swatching to get the gauge for Carolyn's sweater, and I think I've got it now. I'm going to use some wool I bought a few years ago at the Fiber Festival, and it's in skeins, so I need to wind it into balls before I start. I am lazy, so I usually wind the yarn one ball at a time, but then when I run out, the project is on hold until I wind more. This yarn is wound up in pretty tangly skeins, and they take a while to wind, so I want to have them all wound before I start. That will be my TV-watching project for a week or so.
- Kim left her hat at the baby shower when she was home for Christmas break, and we got the hat back after she left, but now Rich has been wearing it, so I'm going to make another one for Kim. I'm going to make the Cupcake hat from Chicknits, and I'm going to use some Malabrigo I bought a year or so ago and I was saving it for the right project.
What I'm watching today:
- We stepped down our cable subscription to the very lowest basic package, and I'm sick of only having the golf channel and the travel channel (yes, I know there are other channels, but I'm not usually awake during prime time, and there is never anything I want to watch when I am awake), so I called to have our service stepped up again. I miss the Food Network and HGTV! Also, the Winter Olympics are coming up soon, and I like to watch all the less-popular sports like curling and luge, as well as the 'big' sports like figure skating and snowboarding, and I know the network coverage of the less-popular stuff will not be enough! I need ESPN! (This is the only reason to have ESPN, as I do not care about football or whatever else they show on that station.)
Okay, now you are up to date on everything. You're welcome. Also, if you want to see baby pictures you can go here.
Friday, January 15, 2010
And in other parts of the world...
We're all excited and happy about new baby Maddy, and I'm running around buying diapers and collecting baby furniture, but as you know, in Haiti it's considerably less pleasant right now.
I haven't mentioned it before because I don't think we need to pat ourselves on the back every time we do one tiny thing to help someone else, but there is a group that I have contributed to before (and not just to get in the drawing for hand-knit mittens) called Knitters Without Borders, which is a clever way of contributing to Doctors Without Borders.
I just put a button with a link to more information on the right side of my journal, so if you want to do your bit, go there, read about it and follow the link to contribute. You can read what the Yarn Harlot has to say on her blog, too. Scroll down to the January 13, 2010 post, "The Knit-signal." It's very moving.
I haven't mentioned it before because I don't think we need to pat ourselves on the back every time we do one tiny thing to help someone else, but there is a group that I have contributed to before (and not just to get in the drawing for hand-knit mittens) called Knitters Without Borders, which is a clever way of contributing to Doctors Without Borders.
I just put a button with a link to more information on the right side of my journal, so if you want to do your bit, go there, read about it and follow the link to contribute. You can read what the Yarn Harlot has to say on her blog, too. Scroll down to the January 13, 2010 post, "The Knit-signal." It's very moving.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pretty exciting day!
So Rachel had the baby today and they're calling her Maddy, which is short for Madelyne Elizabeth! It's a beautiful name, and Sarah was pleased to find out that she and the new baby have the same middle name! Hee! Great-aunt Sarah!
Carolyn was pleased to find out that she is an Aunt now (and hello, Uncle Scott!), and she doesn't have to wait for her brother Patrick to get married and have a baby, she can be an Aunt right now! Kim was less impressed, because she has been an Aunt for two years, but she did mention that she needs more sunglasses, because that is what the Cool Aunts wear, just like Sarah.
Soren and Carl have a cousin now, which would be thrilling for them, if they were old enough to know what a cousin is.
I talked to Rachel on the phone when I woke up in the afternoon, and she said the baby was cute, and then she sent me a cell-phone picture of a baby whose most prominent feature was a big nose! I was a bit surprised, because I've seen cuter babies before, but you know, moms always think their own child is attractive, no matter how big their nose is. When we got to the hospital, I saw that baby Maddy actually is very lovely and has a tee-tiny nose (also tiny feet! so cute!), so it was just the camera angle that made her look schnozz-fabulous!
So Rich and I visited Rachel in the hospital and held the baby, and took her picture, and Rich changed a diaper because he is the king of taking care of babies. I told Maddy she can call me HRH, and she can call Rich Poppy.
Then we went to Rockford to pick up the dresser/changing table that Rachel and Ash bought yesterday. They were going to borrow our van and pick it up today, but they decided to have a baby instead, so Rich and I took a little drive and got it for them. It was a nice opportunity for Rich to listen to the Ben Folds CD he gave me for Christmas, and he said he's got some new cuss words to teach Patsy now, because Ben does curse a bit.
We brought the dresser back and the two of us carried it into their apartment. Rich thinks I am not so helpful at helping him carry furniture, because I am shorter and don't have a very long reach, so he was complaining a little, but hey, there was nobody else to help, so he needs to be a little more grateful!
Tonight I am at work, and while the lab reports are printing, I'm knitting a little hat for Maddy, using some light gray Angora yarn. The yarn is handspun by the lady who raises the Angora rabbits - it's so soft!
Carolyn was pleased to find out that she is an Aunt now (and hello, Uncle Scott!), and she doesn't have to wait for her brother Patrick to get married and have a baby, she can be an Aunt right now! Kim was less impressed, because she has been an Aunt for two years, but she did mention that she needs more sunglasses, because that is what the Cool Aunts wear, just like Sarah.
Soren and Carl have a cousin now, which would be thrilling for them, if they were old enough to know what a cousin is.
I talked to Rachel on the phone when I woke up in the afternoon, and she said the baby was cute, and then she sent me a cell-phone picture of a baby whose most prominent feature was a big nose! I was a bit surprised, because I've seen cuter babies before, but you know, moms always think their own child is attractive, no matter how big their nose is. When we got to the hospital, I saw that baby Maddy actually is very lovely and has a tee-tiny nose (also tiny feet! so cute!), so it was just the camera angle that made her look schnozz-fabulous!
So Rich and I visited Rachel in the hospital and held the baby, and took her picture, and Rich changed a diaper because he is the king of taking care of babies. I told Maddy she can call me HRH, and she can call Rich Poppy.
Then we went to Rockford to pick up the dresser/changing table that Rachel and Ash bought yesterday. They were going to borrow our van and pick it up today, but they decided to have a baby instead, so Rich and I took a little drive and got it for them. It was a nice opportunity for Rich to listen to the Ben Folds CD he gave me for Christmas, and he said he's got some new cuss words to teach Patsy now, because Ben does curse a bit.
We brought the dresser back and the two of us carried it into their apartment. Rich thinks I am not so helpful at helping him carry furniture, because I am shorter and don't have a very long reach, so he was complaining a little, but hey, there was nobody else to help, so he needs to be a little more grateful!
Tonight I am at work, and while the lab reports are printing, I'm knitting a little hat for Maddy, using some light gray Angora yarn. The yarn is handspun by the lady who raises the Angora rabbits - it's so soft!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Another PSA
I don't know why people think they need to call ahead to let the hospital know that they are bringing a patient to the Emergency Room. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's so annoying. People will call and tell me, the operator, that they are bringing someone to the ER, and it's just not necessary. Surprise them, they like it!
The call I just got was from an employee at a nursing home, calling to say that she just wanted to let 'them' know that a patient was coming in. I asked who she was trying to contact, and she said she didn't know (!), she had been told to call and let the hospital know that a patient was coming from the nursing home. Okay, does she think I'm going to make an overhead announcement? Idiot. I kindly said I would transfer her to ER admitting, although they don't give a skinny-tailed rat's ass who is on their way here, because they can't register the patient until they actually arrive.
If the patient you are going to bring in is in such terrible shape that preparations need to be made before they arrive, you should probably be calling an ambulance, unless you want to get body fluids all over your car. That is my public service announcement tonight. You're welcome.
The call I just got was from an employee at a nursing home, calling to say that she just wanted to let 'them' know that a patient was coming in. I asked who she was trying to contact, and she said she didn't know (!), she had been told to call and let the hospital know that a patient was coming from the nursing home. Okay, does she think I'm going to make an overhead announcement? Idiot. I kindly said I would transfer her to ER admitting, although they don't give a skinny-tailed rat's ass who is on their way here, because they can't register the patient until they actually arrive.
If the patient you are going to bring in is in such terrible shape that preparations need to be made before they arrive, you should probably be calling an ambulance, unless you want to get body fluids all over your car. That is my public service announcement tonight. You're welcome.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
And it's 0 outside!
Had a busy day today. There was a baby shower in the morning for Rachel, and Kim and I went to that. It was a lot of fun, and 27 people showed up for it! Wow! It was for all the ladies from church and there was a pancake buffet! The hostess had made a little movie where she asked Ash a bunch of baby-related questions. She would ask Rachel the question and Rachel had to say what she think Ash answered, then we got to see Ash answering the question in the movie. It was really clever!
When we got home in the afternoon, Kim had to start packing to go back to college, so she spent a couple of hours packing and loading her car while I went back out shopping with Ruthann at Walmart on a SATURDAY AFTERNOON! It was full of people, but not as many of them were bizarre today. Or I was too busy shopping to notice the weird-looking ones.
While Kim was here, everytime I went to the store, I bought groceries for her to take back to school with her - things she cooks for herself when she's back in her apartment, like ramen soup and Pasta-roni, canned chili and hash. She took it back in three grocery bags today, and she says it's probably enough food for a month.
Rich had a meeting this evening and then he was supposed to chaperone a youth activity, so he was getting ready to leave about the same time Kim was. He took the van, and Kim was leaving with her car, so that left me home with Rich's car that hasn't been out of the driveway in two weeks!
When everyone was gone and I had the house to myself, I called Diana to talk to her while I worked on my farm (Farmville). The house was so quiet! So I was talking and farming, and I heard a noise that sounded almost like a voice! It startled me, and I had to get up and check the doors and look around to see what caused it. It must have been the cats, but Diana assured me that if I was scared, she would stay on the phone with me to keep me company until it was time to go to work!
After she talked me off of that ledge, she suggested that I go out and clean off Rich's car and make sure it starts before I took my nap, so that I wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised when it was time to go to work. Good idea!
The snow was deep outside, but it was powdery, so I took a broom to clean off the car. I was feeling pretty clever about that idea! I got the car uncovered, and pulled out my keys, and ... oh no! The key wouldn't go in the lock! Was it frozen? I tried feeling around (in the dark!) to make sure I was getting the key into the keyhole, but that wasn't the problem, and I was wondering how to melt a frozen lock, when I realized I was using the wrong key. Oh. So with the correct key, the car started right up. I backed it out of the giant snow drift and parked it under the carport so it was all ready to go and then I went in and took a nap.
Rich came home about the time I was waking up, so I didn't have to worry about driving his car at all, but he was grateful that his car is all cleaned off for driving to church in the morning. Yeah, you're welcome.
Now I'm at work, with knitting and a library book, and Kim just called to say she got back safely, so it's a good night.
When we got home in the afternoon, Kim had to start packing to go back to college, so she spent a couple of hours packing and loading her car while I went back out shopping with Ruthann at Walmart on a SATURDAY AFTERNOON! It was full of people, but not as many of them were bizarre today. Or I was too busy shopping to notice the weird-looking ones.
While Kim was here, everytime I went to the store, I bought groceries for her to take back to school with her - things she cooks for herself when she's back in her apartment, like ramen soup and Pasta-roni, canned chili and hash. She took it back in three grocery bags today, and she says it's probably enough food for a month.
Rich had a meeting this evening and then he was supposed to chaperone a youth activity, so he was getting ready to leave about the same time Kim was. He took the van, and Kim was leaving with her car, so that left me home with Rich's car that hasn't been out of the driveway in two weeks!
When everyone was gone and I had the house to myself, I called Diana to talk to her while I worked on my farm (Farmville). The house was so quiet! So I was talking and farming, and I heard a noise that sounded almost like a voice! It startled me, and I had to get up and check the doors and look around to see what caused it. It must have been the cats, but Diana assured me that if I was scared, she would stay on the phone with me to keep me company until it was time to go to work!
After she talked me off of that ledge, she suggested that I go out and clean off Rich's car and make sure it starts before I took my nap, so that I wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised when it was time to go to work. Good idea!
The snow was deep outside, but it was powdery, so I took a broom to clean off the car. I was feeling pretty clever about that idea! I got the car uncovered, and pulled out my keys, and ... oh no! The key wouldn't go in the lock! Was it frozen? I tried feeling around (in the dark!) to make sure I was getting the key into the keyhole, but that wasn't the problem, and I was wondering how to melt a frozen lock, when I realized I was using the wrong key. Oh. So with the correct key, the car started right up. I backed it out of the giant snow drift and parked it under the carport so it was all ready to go and then I went in and took a nap.
Rich came home about the time I was waking up, so I didn't have to worry about driving his car at all, but he was grateful that his car is all cleaned off for driving to church in the morning. Yeah, you're welcome.
Now I'm at work, with knitting and a library book, and Kim just called to say she got back safely, so it's a good night.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Baby it's cold outside.
It's been very cold here for a couple of days and I can't find the fingerless wool mitts I made for myself last winter to wear in the den (coldest room in the house because of the Wall of Windows) when I'm on the computer. I am starting another pair and I'm sure when I'm done with these the old pair will turn up. You know how that goes.
I have two small projects to finish before the baby shower on Saturday, one requires buttons to be sewn on, but yay! I found the buttons yesterday, and the other needs to have a zipper sewn in. I can get both of those done while watching TV this week. (I miss cable.)
The other project that needs to be finished is the Weasely sweater for Soren, which is all done except for knitting the hem. When I make a knitted hem I like to knit a little message in it; at least a heart and the year the object was made. I need to print a sheet of graph paper tonight and plot the chart. I can do that and get the sweater done quickly after that. It's all sewn together, which is usually the biggest hurdle.
Kim and Sando are at my house playing video games on their laptops (of course) and no one would amuse me at all before I came to work. I suggested to Rich that we should maybe go upstairs and make out, and Kim groaned and said there was nothing worse than hearing your parents talk about making out, but Sando said, "Unless it's hearing other people's parents talking about it," Haha!
I have two small projects to finish before the baby shower on Saturday, one requires buttons to be sewn on, but yay! I found the buttons yesterday, and the other needs to have a zipper sewn in. I can get both of those done while watching TV this week. (I miss cable.)
The other project that needs to be finished is the Weasely sweater for Soren, which is all done except for knitting the hem. When I make a knitted hem I like to knit a little message in it; at least a heart and the year the object was made. I need to print a sheet of graph paper tonight and plot the chart. I can do that and get the sweater done quickly after that. It's all sewn together, which is usually the biggest hurdle.
Kim and Sando are at my house playing video games on their laptops (of course) and no one would amuse me at all before I came to work. I suggested to Rich that we should maybe go upstairs and make out, and Kim groaned and said there was nothing worse than hearing your parents talk about making out, but Sando said, "Unless it's hearing other people's parents talking about it," Haha!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
It was a long weekend.
We didn't do anything exciting on New Year's Eve because we really don't care. Rich, Kim and I all went to see Sherlock Holmes, and that was pretty entertaining. Then Kim left to sleep over at Ana's house, and Rich and I watched TV in bed - we watched the ball drop in Times Square and then Rich went to sleep and I stayed up reading in bed until I got sleepy about 2 a.m.
That was Thursday night. On Friday I was sitting in front of my computer, farming my Farmville farm when I got a text message from Rachel's friend Kat, asking if Kim and I wanted to go with her to see Midget Wrestling. Midgets? I'm there!
Kat said she would pick me up early so we could get to the bar in the small town where the wrestling would take place, and we could check out the surroundings and get a hamburger, because I am always looking for a good hamburger. Kim declined to go with us, which was just as well, as it turned out.
The bar was easy to find, and we got a great parking spot. The hamburger was very good, and so were the fries. The bar was small and very loud, and Kat recognized most of the songs, but I only knew one. Maybe two. The music was so loud that you couldn't hear anything on the five (!) TVs that were hanging on the walls, and yet none of the TVs had the closed captioning turned on, so I don't see what the point of having them turned on was at all.
There was another room next to the main bar area, and that was where the ring was being set up for the wrestling. There were two rows of chairs around the ring, and when we were allowed to start shuffling in to that room, I suggested that we didn't sit in the front row, in case any midgets came flying out of the ring, because I didn't want to have one land on me! Kat agreed that was a good idea.
We tried to get some pictures but none of the ones we took with our cameras were any good. I have one blurry shot of Kat, standing in a 'wrestler' pose in front of the ring, and one of a skinny guy with a completely bald, shiny head, who was inexplicably wearing pajama pants. We joked that maybe he had Leukemia or something and was just out of his sickbed for a fun last night on the town. Later when he was being a complete asshole and shouting abuse at one of the female wrestelrs, she called him "Leukemia," so we weren't the only ones who thought he looked unwell.
I texted Kim from the bar while we waited for the wrestling to start:
Me: So I'm in a grungy bar that has good burgers and we're waiting for the wrestling to begin.
Kim: Take pics of the bar!
Me: I just sent you one of Kat standing in front of the ring.
Kim: It's a little ring. But it contains their big hearts.
Me: U R so funny!
(The picture was too blurry to post here.)
Later:
Me: It's freezing in here also Scott was right this is fake as hell and so far not a midget in sight.
Kim: Midgets aren't fighting?
Me: Only midget brains!
Eventually there was one Little Person who came out to fight, but by then I was very tired of being surrounded by idiots who were yelling stupid things that they mistakenly thought were funny, and I wasn't interested any more.
After the third match (the first one to actually contain a midget), there was an intermission, and one of the young ladies offered to body slam any man in the audience for five dollars. Immediately, men started jumping up and giving her money to slam them down in the ring and sit on them! The funniest part was when Leukemia jumped up and wanted to be slammed - she picked him up and pulled the back of his pajama pants down to moon the audience before she threw him down, and I screamed to Kat, "I'm blind!" He deserved the humiliation, and I clapped enthusiastically.
We left after that, and I was so happy to be outside breathing in the clean, cold air! On the way home, we decided we need to get out more often, so Kat is going to see what other cultural experiences she can find for us.
When I was telling Rich about it the next day, I asked him if he would pay five dollars to have a woman body slam him and sit on his head? He said if he wanted to be abused he could stay home and it wouldn't cost him anything.
That was Thursday night. On Friday I was sitting in front of my computer, farming my Farmville farm when I got a text message from Rachel's friend Kat, asking if Kim and I wanted to go with her to see Midget Wrestling. Midgets? I'm there!
Kat said she would pick me up early so we could get to the bar in the small town where the wrestling would take place, and we could check out the surroundings and get a hamburger, because I am always looking for a good hamburger. Kim declined to go with us, which was just as well, as it turned out.
The bar was easy to find, and we got a great parking spot. The hamburger was very good, and so were the fries. The bar was small and very loud, and Kat recognized most of the songs, but I only knew one. Maybe two. The music was so loud that you couldn't hear anything on the five (!) TVs that were hanging on the walls, and yet none of the TVs had the closed captioning turned on, so I don't see what the point of having them turned on was at all.
There was another room next to the main bar area, and that was where the ring was being set up for the wrestling. There were two rows of chairs around the ring, and when we were allowed to start shuffling in to that room, I suggested that we didn't sit in the front row, in case any midgets came flying out of the ring, because I didn't want to have one land on me! Kat agreed that was a good idea.
We tried to get some pictures but none of the ones we took with our cameras were any good. I have one blurry shot of Kat, standing in a 'wrestler' pose in front of the ring, and one of a skinny guy with a completely bald, shiny head, who was inexplicably wearing pajama pants. We joked that maybe he had Leukemia or something and was just out of his sickbed for a fun last night on the town. Later when he was being a complete asshole and shouting abuse at one of the female wrestelrs, she called him "Leukemia," so we weren't the only ones who thought he looked unwell.
I texted Kim from the bar while we waited for the wrestling to start:
Kim: Take pics of the bar!
Me: I just sent you one of Kat standing in front of the ring.
Kim: It's a little ring. But it contains their big hearts.
Me: U R so funny!
(The picture was too blurry to post here.)
Me: It's freezing in here also Scott was right this is fake as hell and so far not a midget in sight.
Kim: Midgets aren't fighting?
Me: Only midget brains!
Eventually there was one Little Person who came out to fight, but by then I was very tired of being surrounded by idiots who were yelling stupid things that they mistakenly thought were funny, and I wasn't interested any more.
After the third match (the first one to actually contain a midget), there was an intermission, and one of the young ladies offered to body slam any man in the audience for five dollars. Immediately, men started jumping up and giving her money to slam them down in the ring and sit on them! The funniest part was when Leukemia jumped up and wanted to be slammed - she picked him up and pulled the back of his pajama pants down to moon the audience before she threw him down, and I screamed to Kat, "I'm blind!" He deserved the humiliation, and I clapped enthusiastically.
We left after that, and I was so happy to be outside breathing in the clean, cold air! On the way home, we decided we need to get out more often, so Kat is going to see what other cultural experiences she can find for us.
When I was telling Rich about it the next day, I asked him if he would pay five dollars to have a woman body slam him and sit on his head? He said if he wanted to be abused he could stay home and it wouldn't cost him anything.
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