I thought this was cute!

Afdre
I dont know - I cant size it so that it is readable....so let me translate here.....
What HE says is "I've been thinking...I'm the man of this house, so starting tomorrow I want you to have a hot delicious meal ready for me the second I walk thru that door...Afterwards,while watching ESPN and relaxing in my chair, you'll bring me my slippers and then run my bath...And when I'm done with my bath, guess who is going to dress me and comb my hair?"

And SHE replies : "The funeral director."

Anyway, I am still going nuts here waiting to hear....and it is driving me crazy. I would like to be able to sleep thru the night again someday....I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me in their way, and hope you are still praying!

Meanwhile, I am seeing 'signs' everywhere I look....and I really really wish that big black old crow or raven or whatever, would leave my driveway area cause it is really giving me the creeps and worries!

Just went outside to take some recycling out - and heard this odd noise - and there is a squirrel scampering up the palm tree with an apple in his mouth! Now, I want to know where he got that apple....and he looked so funny trying to carry it up while he ran up that tree. I guess when I stopped to talk to him he realized I wasnt going to shoot him or anything, so he stopped to taste it...but then the dog saw him and starting whining, so he ran on up.

The other day I took pity on my plants and went out to water them. This weather has been so very very crazy. So do you know what I discovered? My lilac bush has some puny blossoms on it!!!!! At the end of November! And I thought I was the one going crazy!

Had a lovely day making the rounds of the thrift shops....got the cutest little Christmas polar bear pin...some yarn for a scarf that will go in the donation pile...books...some collectibles that will become gifts...it was an awesome day to shop (especially since one of the shops was having a 50% off sale! Boy, I have never seen that shop so crowded!)

SICKO

If you havent seen Michael Moore's movie, SICKO, you must see it.

As with his other movies, it is very thought provoking.

I may not agree 100% with what he says - but he truely makes you think about things.



Do you know another profession that has very poor health care and retirement benefits?

Health care workers!

Yup, unless you work in a union hospital or in the Kaiser organization, you retire with no medical benefits and very poor retirement (except for your savings).

Many health care workers dont have any retirement except social security.

Now, isnt that a sad reflection on the system - those who have worked all those years providing health care - have none when they retire. What does that say about the American system?

Contest

No - not here...on another blog...but you gotta enter - cause it is a good one. Not only does the winner win - but so does a charity! She is asking you to tell your favorite charity - and if you win, she will donate to that charity! Awesome idea!

And if those of you who are not knitters are reluctant to enter...you can always donate your winning to me!! LOL

Anyway, the site is http://chanknits.wordpress.com/

Happy Thanksgiving - Have a blessed, safe, and joyful day with your family and friends!

Wrapping up Hell Week

Well - those are the best photos I have since I lost my camera on Thursday. Which means I lost the photos of COnnor being surprised with balloons and a birthday basket...and the boys in the Monster Inc car....I am sad more that I lost the photos than I lsot the camera (altho the loss of the camera resulted in missed photo ops) and the fact that I lost my LARGE scan disk....at least I didnt lose the one with Connors Birthday party photos on it! Did get some photos the last day there with a disposible camera...

So Friday was something else. Woke up early (of course) totally stressed out. Couldnt even eat the breakfast I bought the night before....cried myself silly on the drive there until I had a little talk with myself about how silly I was being. Just missed being hit twice....I thought drivers up here were crazy! Down there if they dont like the speed in a lane - they jsut make their own lane!

Got there plenty early and found other people there jsut as stressed as I was. It was very easy to focus on typing the paper - the other people around me didnt bother me at all. The paper turned out to be a page longer than when I originally wrote it - even though I later realized I forgot to add in some evaluation tools I meant to put in - so I dont know if I went back and started adding in redundant info or not. About 2/3 of the way thru I regretted not eating anything. I finished spell check and all about 15 minutes early. Went outside and met up with some of the people who had done their orals and were waiting to do their paper. Oh, and ate my breakfast at 12:30!!! I felt to drained - totally brain dead and jsut totally drained....I cant explain it at all...

Sat in a group of 5 for the orals - and our moderator was the director of the school! - and was totally blown away by these smart, intelligent women...I was so drained from the paper experience that I could barely put sentences together much less paragraphs. Spoke with another person who was in that group later and she said she felt the same way. But I am encouraging her to publish her paper becuase the basis was fantastic!

Was thinking about stopping and buying a new camera but didnt. Made it back to the hotel and valet parking and ran upstairs to the room to go to the bathroom. At that point I oculdnt find my phone so thought I left it in the car...ran back downstairs and they had already parked the car. The Christmas parade was to start at 3:30 but for premeir seating (at the top of the stairs at the railroad) you had to be their early so I hiked double time to get there (my knee was killing me by the time I got there) without being able to call ahead....the parade wasnt all that good (Disney parades have all gone downhill since the 80's - jsut not as good and much much shorter) but the best part of it - what made it all worthwhile - was as I rounded the corner I heard two little guys shouting "MeMaw! MeMaw is here!!!!!!" That made it all worthwhile!

Had fun the rest of the evening - and watched the fireworks and the snow!!!

Sat morning we watched the boys while daughter and son in law packed and did some last minute shopping. Then they left and we hit California Adventure - drove to Knott's and had our chicken dinner - drove back to Disney to watch the fireworks again - and then to bed totally exhausted!

Sun we had the world's lousiest breakfast at the RainForest Cafe....and then we did our shopping - and left. Exhausted. Still tired. But last night got 1 of my last 4 assignments for this semester done - they are all due this week so you probably wont see much posting this week!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Hell Week - Thursday

Ok, I am in a full blown stress out here!

Lovely day today - not as warm as yesterday (it was 93 degrees down here... in the middle of November!!!) but very nice. Very nice that is until I lost my camera. I am sure I will never see it again, and of course what I really miss is the 1 gig (or whatver it is) scandisk! Luckily I downloaded the photos yesterday - and only ad a couple new ones on there today. But of course there were all these great photo ops today that I couldnt take advantage of! The park is so beautiful decorated for the holidays and especially at night! Guess I will buy a throw away camera tomorrow afternoon...

I dont even know what time I need to leaver tomorrow to get there on time! Mapquest says 25 minutes but I so dont trust them....and no one I ask here can give me a better answer. So I am going to give myself an hour...and maybe I will get there a little early.

Wonder if I will even sleep tonight?

Hell Week - Wednesday

Well we got up in the middle of the night...took us only 30 minutes to get to Oakland airport!
And then it was a relatively empty flight - why cant we get those on longer flights? Got our car...and headed right to...Radio Shack!!!!! Yeah, the charger adapter for my phone broke this morning...but we did get to the Grand Californian and got our tickets and headed into the park. And we were starving for a hot dog - and there were no hot dog places open cause it was only 1030 in the morning! Got right onto Indiana Jones....finally found a hot dog....and then got to ride the New Submarine Ride and see Nemo! Had to wait in line mmmm.....about 45 minutes for that one.

Headed back to the hotel to meet up with the kids.....and when Connor saw us, the first thing he said was "MeMaw, PaPa, what are YOU doing here???????" They have obviously been cooped up in a car all day cause they are way full of energy!

Hell Week - Tuesday

I work with some pretty great people - I put an email out at work shamelessly asking for prayers and good thoughts on Friday - and I am getting so much wonderful support from them!

(Look to the left - those are two of the little people who are keeping me going this week!!!! Notice I didnt say sane...cause that just aint possible!)

Found some more articles as I was putting things away to pack up - so have re-written the paper again as well as the reference list and the annotated biography - to the point that I have run out of printer ink!

Rec'd a kind phone call from someone who has this all behind her - who reminded me that I have to email things in before Friday! Had totally forgotten about that! Thank you Bernie! And I think I got the outline down to one page AND at a 12 font! Hopefully it will still help me...

Laundry is done, time to pack. Have to get up well before dawn for our flight....

Hell Week - Monday

Day one of countdown...didnt make it to the gym. Overslept. Got to play with grandson and hold granddaughter before they left for home. So oversleeping was ok...

Have worked more on my paper. Anyone know a magic portion for 24 hours of photographic memory?

Got some laundry done...will go put some more in the washer in just a minute.

Made lunch reservations for grandson at the pirate restuarant at Disneyland (Blue Bayou if you want to be more precise!).

Found mistakes on the Reference page for the paper, fixed them - have to print it out AGAIN!

Think I better pack some tums or rolaids or something....and the debate with myself is - do I want to go to the CSUDH bookstore while there and get a momento of what could be (hopefully will be!) my last trip there? Or would that jinx me??

Oh yeah - felted my new purse. Finally gave in and bought this kit at a lovely store in Pleasanton, Knit This, Purl That (hopefully I got the name right). Have falled in love with a purse in the store but dont have the time to take the class. So this kit appears to be the same yarns. I didnt quite like the bottom, which was jsut a 3 needle bind off which would make it a flat tote. So I did a circular decrease and made it a rounded tote. Took a photo of it drying, but will take another photo when I get the straps in and see if they work right...if not there is enough yarn to make new straps.

5th birthday party

Kaia - our little POlish Yenta???? Tried to get her into the pirates mood...there she is again - no she wasnt drinking - trying to get a photo while holding her is tricky!

Kaia's big brother Owen arrived wearing his own Captain Owen hat and shirt with Mickey Mouse explaining how to be a pirate....from his visit to Disneyland last year!

Little brother Jack who - although you cant see it in a still photo - was rocking out to pirate music! He kept his pirate hair and hat on throughout most of the party!

What is a pirate party anymore without your very own Capt Jack Sparrow showing up????? AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

The birthday boy himself in his pirate gear! No - this was a special outfit just for the party - he was Spiderman for Halloween (brother was a lion!). He was Mr. Social and seemed to have a very good time!!!!

Time really goes by quickly the older you get....seems like just yesterday that his mom was telling us about his November arrival...and here he is such a big boy at 5 years old!

Still here

Still freaking out about this Exam....how the heck am I supposed to write a knowledgeable APA formatted paper under duress????? Is this really worth it?????

Daughter jsut called me and the work MD is referring her to an orthopedic MD. In college she had to have knee surgery - they thought it was a bad meniscal tear but the MRI didnt show that. They went in and jsut had to trim it up and all. Well, she was at CMT training (Crowd Management Team) and did some kind of exercise or maneauver and it didnt feel so good...so now after a week + of light duty, exercise, icing and all, they need to really check it out and see if she damaged it more. Bummer.

And I jsut saw where they took that Philly cop off life support and he died yesterday. The one who was shot in the head. That makes me shudder. Even if I didnt have a daughter and son-in-law in law enforcement, I still dont understand why the badge makes people a target even before they do or say anything. Sick sick people. My heart goes out to that family and to the Philadelphia Police Department. I hope someone finds that ***hole....maybe anonymously in a dark alley...

Stress is such a lovely thing...wakes me up at 0300 every morning with thoughts of this paper running thru my head. I still cant come up with a decent opener and closer...what does it matter anyway unless I can memorize that and actually remember it on that stress filled morning???

I did manage to get a decent nights sleep the last 2 nights but only cause we are so busy at work. Apparently Halloween and lots of candy result in preemies being born...of course, the fact that the Auxillary had set up their Holiday Bazaar in the lobby and we all wanted to go shopping yesterday probably had something to do with it too!!! (Why are medical people so superstitious?? Wonder if I can get a grant and do a study on that?)

BUT....good news!!!We finally have our new light up in the bathroom! And the wall switches actually work correctly after being replaced! Instead of playing head games with us - either one will turn the light on and turn it off...But we have 2 holes in the ceiling where the old lights were that hubby will have to close up this weekend....and I might shower upstairs in the wee hours of the morning until he does. Why? Cause there is a hunk of fluffy stuff on the bathroom rug that wasnt there before I ran an errand and is there now....how could it have come out of the attic space if it wasnt pushed out? And I dont really want to meet what might have pushed it out in the dark hours of the morning....

So now we just have to finish painting the ceiling after the holes are filled in and put the mirror up and it will FINALLY BE DONE....that one week project started back in June....