celebrating milestones

So, Tarl and I celebrated 20 years of marriage on Wed. I can't believe how time has just disappeared but I am so glad that I had him to share the last 20 years. I believe that I have found myself what I call a "catch" and I am looking forward to the next 20. I sure do love that guy!

How cool is this?!?!?!?

I soooooo want to be this woman!

www.youtube.com/watch

I live in a pond with furniture!

So, the Midwest rains have been freaky! On Tuesday, we had an extremely bizarre rainstorm during the night. Since, we live in our bunker-type house, we are always unaware of what the weather is like, however, I was awake most of the night Tues (as was 3/4 of Quincy's population) because the storm was extremely loud. Also, probably because I just got a tune up on my bionic ear as well, but that is a different story. Anyway, when I got up and put my feet on the floor I felt a very strange and extremely cold squish under my feet. At first, I thought that Princess had gotten sick but as I moved my feet, I became aware that the entire Nort side of my house was soaking wet from my kitchen which had a giant puddle into the middle of the floor to my master bathroom and it was a span of about 2 feet wide. SUCK!!!!!! Now, we just spent several hundred dollars taking care of the south side of the house that normally has this problem and it is now dry but now we have the north side. .....Sometimes, I really HATE this fucking money-pit that we just had to have because it is historic and cool, and we got to determine how we wanted it to be built. .....After buying another fan and dehumidifier and going through all of my towels, everything is now dry. I don't think my carpet is ruined, but it will have to be cleaned which sucks because it is only a little over a year old.

I did learn, however, that we actually had it rather mild in comparison to how others had it. Many people who had dry basements ended up with water in them. When we bought our dehumidifier, there was only one more left on the shelves. Also, I quickly learned that there were homes on the east side of town that ended up with raw sewage in their basements as well and there homes had to be treated in the manner of a toxic spill. Oh well, I guess it can always be worse, still, I love this house less and less these days.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Well........

I don't know if I believe in ghosts but I DO believe in things that happen that I can't explain. So, here is what happened to me yesterday at work:

My office is an actual pt room at the hospital that has been turned into an office. I share this office with 3 other Care managers and 1 Social worker. My desk and one of my coworker's desks is actually ment to be in a cubicle. It has an upholstered towerwith an overhead cabinet. It is a very nice space and I have always enjoyed my office and my coworkers. As a matter of fact, I like my office so much that I prefer to work there rather than to be out at the nurses station where all of the action is. The other great thing about my office is it is a great place to have family conferences and the nurses have a safe and private place to come and "discuss" what is going on.

Yesterday, a nurse neede to see me about one of her patients. This is just a normal run of the mill day and a normal run of the mill situation that we are dealing with. Kim (she is the nurse) sits in my coworker's chair in the middle of the room so that we can have our conversation. As we are talking, something flies off of my coworkers desk and hits Kim in the arm. We are both stunned! "What was that"? She picks up a push pin that was originally stuck in my coworkers upholstered tower (used appropriately as a bulletin board). .....NOW,.... there were only the 2 of us in the room....... I ask you, how does a pin come out of a bulletin board and fly half way across the room? Tarl thought that maybe someone on the other side of the wall was doing some construction or hit the wall or something, BUT....... this wall is on the 3 rd floor and it is the end of the building. Besides, if that were true, the pin would have just fallen out of the bulletin board and onto the desk and then rolled to the floor. This had some force behind it as if it were thrown. Kim is convinced that there is a ghost in my office. I am convinced that something happened that I can't explain.

There is still more to this story.... I use a laptop that uses the hospital's wireless network. For the last 2 weeks, I have been frequently kicked off the network for no reason. When this happens, I will lose my work if it is not saved. This really pisses me off. Yesterday, after the incident, I was CONSTANTLY being kicked off the network. I made 3 calls to our help desk because, not only was I getting kicked off the network, I was getting a blue screen as I tried to get back on. I even traded out my computer because I was wasting so much time. This made no difference AT ALL! I finally found a network cable (don't tell anyone because I actually took it from someone else -but they weren't using it- they use wireless......dumb ass) and then connected that way and I turned off my wireless. Even after I did that, my computer was still occasionally looking for the wireless network. I did not leave work until 7:00 PM last night because of all of this trouble.......THAT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

So, tomorrow (Sat.) I have to work. I will be one of only 3 care managers in the entire hospital. I will stay in my office most of the weekend unless I have to go to another department to take care of any problems. I will likely be a bit jumpy. I hope my computer will work for me or else I will have to go to someone elses office to get my work done and who wants to do that.

So, what do you think? Am I being haunted? Is this just something that I can't explain? It is just a bit freaky don't you think?

Another cool version of my favorite Cantiga

uk.youtube.com/watch

What's my favorite Cantiga?........

This is why I love it, check it out:


uk.youtube.com/watch

It's that time of year again.......

I totally LOVE these psuedo-ice cream treats. The shamrock shake is very elusive but I gotta have one at least once a year.......DE-LISH!!!!

I couldn't say no.......

I am teaching again. I was asked by my old boss if I could teach a cardiology class for them and I said yes. They agreed to pay me an hourly wage and I am doing this on several Saturdays this month. I am actually happy about this and I am glad that I have not severed all ties with Ed. Services, I just wish that things would have been different in that old job.

Anyway, when I got to class on Sat, the first student to show up was none other than my old boss from Ed. Services, that felt odd. I asked if she was planning on teaching this class in the future and she said that she had always just wanted to take a structured class to see if she missed anything from her self-taught class that she took many years ago. .....I think the real reason she is there is to decide if this class is truly necessary to take as a structured class or could it be a class that is taught via a computer-based learning program. I do hope they keep it structured and that they will continue to hire me to teach it. It is my FAVORITE thing to teach and I am thrilled to get to do it again.

Oh, and the picture is one of a sort of semi-famous nurse educator. I hope to someday get a hat just like hers.

I have forgotten about these guys....

Have some fun with this
svt.se/hogafflahage/h...or/hestekor.swf

She is so special!

This is my beautiful little cuddle buddy, Nissa. She has been renamed the "Princess" because that is truly her personality and I have allowed her to be the spoiled little princess kitty that she is. She is my only remaining pet and my bond with her is extremely special. She is 17 years old and I have turned down multiple offers of kitties (even rescue kitties) because it would make her pristeen life absolutely miserable and I would NEVER do that to her.

I took her to the vet the other day because she has the sniffles and after $250 later, we found that her kidneys are at the brink of failure, her liver is small, she is anemic, and she has something "suspicious" in her stomach. However, there is nothing wrong with her upper respiratory system. It is recommended to change her food, give her some medicine and push fluids subcutaneously daily. Now, I always said that I would NEVER do this to a pet, but guess what, I came home with a bad of saline some tubing and 20 gauge needles because I must "SAVE" my precious little baby. Now, let's remember that other than the sniffles, she eats, sleeps, cuddles, demands food and attention, and plays with her rings and catnip toys just like she has always done for the last 17 years; nothing else has changed.

So tonight, my husband and I tried to give her the bolus of fluids at home; ... we failed miserably. She became extremely anxious and frightened before we even stuck her. Then she cried from the needle stick and she continued to become worked up into a state of panic. Tearfully, I stopped everything! This will NOT be how she lives out her final days! The doctor said that I will have to do this for the rest of her life too....FORGET IT.... that is not quality for any of us! My other option is to bring her in to the vet and they will give her fluids there..... NOPE.... she is too terrified of being in the carrier and going to the vet. Who does this to their animals? This is torture for all of us. Quite frankly, I don't want to appear to be a bad kitty mommy but I just can't do this. I love her too much. We will change her food and give her a pill once a day but if she doesn't like the food, or the pilling becomes too stressful, she will get her way.....it is why she is the princess afterall.