Tuesday - Make a Difference & The Tuesday Twelve

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." ~~Helen Keller

I don't think I told you guys about receiving notice that a sexual offender (luring a minor for sexual molestation) has moved into my neighborhood.  While it is discomforting to know that someone of this caliber lives near my family, it is even more disturbing that my neighborhood, and his house in particular, literally borders Caleb's elementary School.  Not only that, but there are two private gate that exclusively leads from our neighborhood directly into the school grounds.  I have contacted the DPS, and have been advised that no law currently exists in the state of Arizona that requires sex offenders to live certain distances away from schools, child care, playgrounds, etc.  It horrifies me to learn that the government of this state has such little regard for the safety and welfare of our children.

Well, I haven't seen this man in the 3-4 weeks since I received the notice, but this morning after dropping Caleb off at school I saw him.  My stomach did a bunch of flip flops.  He was walking along through the neighborhood and just smiled when I looked at him.  His appearance is slightly changed from the police photo and he now supports a mustache, but it was definitely him.  Isn't that funny that I get home in the mornings after work at approximately the same time I saw him this morning and have never seen him out and about, but now it's the start of school and we've got kids who walk to school or to the bus stop in our neighborhood.  As a matter of fact, I saw a young girl this morning walking all by herself.  I don't think me seeing him this morning on the second day of school was a coincidence, do you?  I think I'm going to vomit now.  I did write a letter to the Attorney General, but I need to write one to the Governor as well.  Gotta get this changed!

Okay, now for some lighter fare and entertainment from Dawn...

I say _______ and you say _______.

Juicy - Fruit, the gum.  Never ever liked it because it is soooo sweet.

Temptation - Fighting back not to kill off the sexual predator who moved into my neighborhood.

Laboratory - Rats.  Thank goodness for them because medical experiments lead to new ground breaking discoveries that improve our quality of life.

Maid - I will go with Dawn and say "Yes, please".

Olympics - Games, it's almost time for the Summer 2008 in Beijing.

 

Pearl - Harbor.  The official beginning of our involvement in WWII. 

Fire - Men.  The ones who bring me work every night.  And nope, none of them look like this, lol.

 Bond - James!  Mmmmmmm...brings to mind Sean Connery and the new one Daniel Craig.

Kick - your butt if you mess with my kids.

Gear - Head.  Car enthusiatics.

Cub - Knut, the polar bear.

Magnetic - poles.

Well, on that note, I had better get ready for work. 

Ciao!  De;) 

Tags: Sexual Predators, Tuesday Twelve

Monday - First Day of School

Caleb popped right up with a smile on his face this morning and said "It's going to be a great day!"  LOL.  It lasts how long?

Here are a couple of pictures I managed to snap with my cell phone this morning.  Darn kids playing with my camera and I got there and the battery was dead.  Should've known and checked first, ugh.  But anyways, you get the idea.

Big difference from last year where he was sooooo overwhelmed.  We went in the back and avoided the really, really, really loud music.  Plus Caleb saw some friends and was like "hey, hey, hey!" and off they ran.

Caleb said he had a "great" day, but he couldn't "remember" anything to tell me.  He did say he liked Ms Stockton, though.  That is good.  I found out this morning that the reason she looks so young is because she just graduated in May!  Wow, first teaching job.  She was student teaching when I saw her last year.  Well, we'll see how the second day goes.

Oh I was over at Donna's and she said "try the Smilebox, you won't be sorry".  So I did and she is right, it's fun!

 

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

 

Hope your day has been great!

 
Ciao!  De ;)

Tags: First Day of School, Smilebox

Early Monday - Pumpkin's Meme

This meme is just for Pumpkin:

1   What's your favorite movie???  Oh that is hard.  Hmmmm...When Harry Met Sally.  "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

2    What's your favorite color???  Purple.

3    What's your favorite ice cream flavor???  Just about anything with chocolate.  Lately it's an "American Idol" flavor that is 1/2 the fat.  It's called Soulful Sundae Cone and it's the bomb!

4    Where do you want to go on vacation??  Anywhere there is a nice exotic clean beach.

5    What's your favorite animal???  I'm with Dawn, big cats.

6    What's your favorite T.V. show???  Law & Order, SVU.

7    What's your fav. drink???  Non-alcoholic?  Diet Dr Pepper (sorry Dawn, coffee has to come in 2nd, please don't faint, lol).  Alcoholic?  Margarita on the rocks, no salt.

8    What's your favorite flower???  I would have to say Lilys because they were my grandmother's (Nanny) favorite.

9    What's your favorite pet???  Cats, cats, cats.  Although right now we have a guinea pig because my boys are allergic to cats.  Boo.

10   What's your favorite book???  Hmmm, this one is tuff because I haven't read much lately.  I have to say the one book that moved me the most over the last year or so was "90 Minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper.  True story of Death and Life.  You have to read it because it will change your life.

Ciao!  De ;)

 

Tags: Pumpkin's Meme

Sunday - The Moon Effects and Other Stuff

The moon, the moon, so silver and cold, Her fickle temper has oft been told, Now shade--now bright and sunny-- But of all the lunar things that change, The one that shows most fickle and strange, And takes the most eccentric range, Is the moon--so called--of honey! ~~ Thomas Hood.

Whoops!  I lost a whole day somewhere.  I went to work yesterday thinking it was Friday.  And now it's Sunday!  Has someone seen Saturday? LOL.

Work wasn't too bad last night, except our special was assaults.  I was thinking "it must be a full moon", but nope, it's a "new moon".  Sometimes I think that is worse.  I read this article a couple of weeks back written by an astrologist who said that because we have such a low percentage of water in our body compared to the earth, that the moon has no gravitation effect on us or our psyche.

Phil Plait, an astronomer, writes in his blog that "Nurses, cops, doctors — they all swear that things get crazy around a full Moon. However, study after study shows that is simply not the case… yet the swearing continues."  Phil goes on to state:  "Never underestimate the power of anecdote! People read about this idea, and it makes some sort of sense — we’re raised with stories of werewolves, and the power of the full Moon on romance — and they believe it. After all, nurses, police, doctors, they can’t all be wrong, can they? Of course they can. Like anyone else, they remember the time the emergency room was a madhouse during a full Moon, and forget the dozens of times it wasn’t, or the far more common times it was crazy but there *wasn’t* a full Moon. That’s human nature.  The Moon does have a profound affect on Earth; it powers our tides, changes the Earth’s spin, and provides light at night (many animals have cycles based on the Moon), but there are no physical effects on humans themselves. The tides from the Moon are far, *far* too weak to affect us physically, and the gravity from it is incredibly weak as well. Also, the gravity of the Moon does not depend on its phase at all; the orbit of the Moon is elliptical, so sometimes it’s closer, and its gravity stronger, than other times. But that’s different from its phase, which only depends on the geometry of the Earth, Moon, and Sun.  The tides we feel on Earth are greatest at full and new Moon, because the Moon and Sun align in the sky, and their tidal force combines. But again, that’s far too weak to affect humans directly… and if it did, we’d expect to see the same craziness at new Moon as we do when it’s full. We don’t."

So in reality there is no "full moon effect".  Bull I say.  That man never worked a full moon Saturday night.  And I don't know if anyone has studied a new moon effect, I but I see it often as well.  (Go to this site for more interesting moon facts)

There was really only one person who I wanted to stab in the eye last night, and he really would have deserved it.  All I can say he was lucky that there were 4 police officers with him.  Apparently this man was arrested for a domestic disturbance call, which turned into a assault charge.  And, according to police, he has a history of beating his wife, which was what was going on when he was arrested.  But when I asked him why he wanted to be seen, he said "I told these policemen that I have carpel tunnel in both my wrists and that they couldn't put the handcuffs on me and they did anyway.  Now I have severe pain in both my wrists and my hands are numb.  I want the police to pay for my hospital visit."  "Sir, your medical bills are your responsibility.  Now do you want to be seen?"  "I am not going to check in until you get the police to pay for my hospital bill."  :Heavy sigh:  "Sir, I have absolutely no control over who gets billed, I'm the nurse.  Now do you want to check in or not?"  "I want my lawyer."  "Sir, you don't get a lawyer at the hospital, you get a doctor.  If you want a doctor you need to check in.  If you want a lawyer, these fine police officers will take you on your way to jail where you can be processed and speak with a lawyer.  Now do you want to check in or not?"  "Are you going to pay for my hospital bill?"  "OMG! Sir it is actually illegal for me or anyone else to discuss how you are going to pay your ER bill before you are seen by a doctor.  And I don't have time to sit here and argue this point with you.  I have sick people here who need to be taken care of.  Answer my question, do you want to be checked in or not?  Yes or no?"  "Not if I have to pay for this bill."  "Fine, sir.  I will bring you a form to sign that says that you do not want to be seen and then you can go on to jail."  So I go get a LWBS (leave without being seen) form and then the jerk decides he is going to check in and begins answering my questions.  Okay so he is soooo agitated and sweating like a pig (like someone who just did meth) and we can't get his blood pressure.  But the PA doesn't want to treat him unless he has a blood pressure.  So about 30 minutes later I go back in to get his blood pressure and he goes "No, you're not touching me.  I don't want to be seen anymore.  I'm not having anymore pain.  I justwant to leave."  Fine, sir.  I'll go get you a form to sign."  Now the idiot is leaving AMA (against medical advise) because he has been examined by the PA and no insurance company, government or otherwise, ever pays for AMAs.  So regardless of whether or not he qualifies for government assistance for his hospital bill, he just voided that option.  So when I bring the form back into this guy to sign he goes "where do I write 'I don't like you' on here?"  I said "Anywhere you want, just sign it and get out of here because the feeling is mutual."  Oh jeez, the drama of it all!

The up side was were were fully staffed last night.  Actually, we were overstaffed so the charge nurse went home as he didn't have any patients and I was in charge.  When he left, S said "De go ahead and put down that you were charge for 12 hours tonight."  I said "Why?" because he didn't leave until 10pm.  He said "Well you have actually been charging since you got here."  I laughed because I had been making all the decisions mainly because S wasn't in the ER hardly at all during the 3 hours of our shift he was there.  I said "Well I knew that, I just didn't know if you did!"  That was too funny.

Okay so I'm talking to David (who is out of town) on my way home this morning and all of a sudden there is all this noise on the other end of the line like he dropped the phone.  But it was more than that.  Like he fell or something.  And it took him a few minutes to pick the phone back up, too.  So when he did I was like "What on earth happened?"  David said, "Someone just shot at me through the hotel window and busted out the sliding glass door."  I'm like no way, if anything someone just threw a rock or something.  But David goes "A rock doesn't pierce the curtain."  Oh crap!  Who the heck wants to shoot at David?  He said, "Boy this brings back memories!"  I said call the police and get your room changed.  You know what he does?  He calls the police alright, but refuses to change rooms because he said "If they want to kill me, they will find out what room I'm in anyways.  I have too much stuff to pack up and move into another room.  The hotel is replacing the sliding door."  Oh, I give up on understanding that man!  And, it's not like he can change hotels or anything, because it's actually the only hotel up there on the reservation.  :Sigh:

Okay, well I guess I had better get off here and see what I can scrounge up for the boy's dinner.  Tomorrow morning...first day of school! 

Hope you all had a good weekend!

 Ciao!  De ;)

Tags: Full Moon Effect, Who's Really in Charge Here?, First Day of School

Friday - Step by Agonizing Step

Step by step. I can't think of any other way of accomplishing anything. ~~Michael Jordan

  Somebody get me some alcohol quick!  Remember I said I was going to TRY and exercise?  Well yesterday I did, and today I can hardly move.  Oh the pain of it all, lmao!  I did "Slim in 6" and I think it is should be "How to Die in 24 Minutes", ha ha.  Boy it sure was tougher than it looked, which is I guess the point if you are going to get slim in 6weeks.  But geez, somebody should warn us old people.  But I didn't want to be a quitter after the first day, so today I did "Ramping Cardio" with Gin Miller.  Easier and less murder.  I think I helped work out some soreness, but I can still hardly sit or stand w/o pain, that includes after taking Tylenol and drinking lots of water.  Getting old sucks!

Well, yesterday was "meet the Teacher", and that we did.  Caleb's 2nd Grade Teacher is Ms. Stockton.  She is very young.  I remember seeing her last year and thinking that too.  I think this might only be her 2nd or 3rd year teaching.  He seemed to like her.  I hope that hold true throughout the year.  There is another Caleb in the room, but that isn't the first time we've encountered that problem.  I think if she calls him Caleb Marc that should solve the confusion.  Caleb tells every one that is his name anyways, lol.   The picture is a little fuzzy as it is from my cell phone.  The boy needs a haircut and will have one by Monday.

Well, I ended up "helping" Caleb writing his story he took into his class.  Here it is:

 

Caleb was sitting around saying "I can't believe it's school already! I didn't do anything this summer!!" His Mother looked at him and said "What do you mean you didn't do anything?" Caleb said "Mom, we didn't go anywhere." Mom rolled her eyes. "Well maybe we didn't go outside of Phoenix, or even Arizona, but you did do stuff this summer," she said. "Like what?" said Caleb.
 

"Well," said his Mother, "first of all you got to do summer reading."

"Oh yeah, that was cool," said Caleb. "What else?"

"Then your cousin Rachel came to visit for almost the whole summer. And we saw movies," said Mom.

"Oh yeah. We saw Spiderman 3, Shreck, Transformers, Evan Almighty, Fantastic Four, and what else?" said Caleb.

"Let me think...hmmmm. Well you went swimming almost every day, rode your bike, played some new games, watched lots of movies with your sister, Hannah, and Rachel. You got to hang out with your Dad at Chuck E Cheese's, help him build and played with the guinea pig, Daphne," said Mom. "You also got to play with your friend Sam."

"Oh yeah," said Caleb. "I guess I did have fun this summer."

"Oh yeah," said Mom, laughing.

Okay, well after exercising and cooking dinner, I guess I had better clean up a bit and get the boy ready for bed.  School starts first thing Monday morning.  I don't know who is dreading getting up early, me or Caleb.  Hmmmm...most probably me!

I work tomorrow so have a great weekend!

Ciao!  De ;)

 

Tags: Exercising, I think I might die, Time for school

Thursday Morning - Can You Hear the Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth?

Make sure that your actions and behaviors live up to and reflect the words and ideas, promises and commitments that come out of your mouth. ~~Steve Farber

 

You know how I was upset at the medical director the other night and said I was going to post his "apology" note on my locker?  Well I must have thrown it away because I looked and looked everywhere and couldn't find it when I went into work Monday night.  I know it would have been a petty thing to do, but I was pretty angry.  In the end, I went up and told Mr Director "thank you for the note" and he just let out this big sigh and said "you're welcome, and again thank you for being professional.  I was tired and irritable and there was no excuse for me yelling at you."  Hmmmm.  Wonder if he was truly sorry, he heard me talking about it, or someone told him how upset I was.  Either way, we worked together Monday and Tuesday w/o incident.  I just hope it stays that way because I don't think my transfer will be going through very fast, darn it.

Summer sure did go by fast, didn't it?!!  Tonight is "Meet the Teacher" and school starts on Monday for Mr Caleb at an agonizing 7:55am.  Caleb is excited for now.  I hope it lasts once the alarm clock goes off, ha ha.

Well we sure are missing Ms Hannah.  She will be back on Sept 22nd.  6 weeks and 2 days to go, but I'm not counting, lol.  And thanks the prayers.  Hannah got to OKC around 11:30am on Saturday, Rachel to Dallas around 2:00pm.  I felt so bad that we didn't sight see or anything while she was here.  Oh well...Rachel has been to the Grand Canyon and all that surround stuff twice already.  Hopefully we can have a small trip for fall break in Oct, but we have to make sure we can get off for Rachel's wedding in Dec, so maybe not.

  Just want to add another note of thanks for the prayers for my Dad.  He had his staples out last week and went back to work half-days on Thurs & Friday.  I think he is attempting full days this week.  At any rate the surgeon indicated that he got all the tumor and Daddy just needs periodic CTs or MRIs to make sure it doesn't come back (only 7% chance).

Both Monday and Tuesday nights weren't too bad at work.  I only got mildly irritated at a few patients and nobody got their eyes stabbed out, ha ha.  I guess it helped I was in a better mood, too.  You think, lol?

Well, not much to say this so I think I'll pop off and go watch some TV with my DH.  Oh pray for willpower please.  I'm going to TRY and start diet and exercising again (notice I said try).  I've done very well today with the food part, now I just need to get off my very fat butt and get moving.  And on that note...

Ciao!  De ;)

Tags: Professionalism, Apologies, Prayers Answered

Saturday Morning - And They're Off

Hi there!

 

 My computer had a meltdown sometime after I left for work on Sunday.  Of course everyone said "i wasn't on your computer" but it's funny that it was working fine when I left.  Anyways....David has been working on it and it is up halfway. 

 

I can't believe it is time for Hannah & Rachel to fly back!  We have to be at the airport around 0530.  Yikes!  I took a couple hour nap with Caleb when he laid down, but for the most part, I'm up.  Their flight on Southwest leaves at 0705.  Neither are particularly thrilled (and Caleb isn't either for that matter, lol), but I had to pick the cheapest fare and the shortest layover time for Rachel to fly on to Dallas.

I think Rachel enjoyed being here for the most part.  Unfortunately, we were not able to go anywhere and sightsee while she was here.  The girls seemed to have fun, and that is what is important.  Caleb said he will "sure miss them, but not the bossiness" (his words).  So...true sibling/cousin love.

I have to tell you I got very, very upset Thursday night at work.  The medical director of the ER is not someone I am particularly fond of because he is so arrogant and "superior" to the nurses, especially us females.  I bite my tongue every night I work with him.  But Thursday nighthe was so rude that I got so upset and went outside and cried I was so mad.  Everyone knows I have a hearing loss, everyone, including Mr. Director.  Well I was talking to one of the nurses about a patient and all of a sudden he is screaming my name.  I look up and go "What?!"  He said "I've been calling your name".  I said "Well, I'm obviously talking to someone.  What is so important you have to yell at me?"  He said "I need to know the tetanus status of the man in 5B"  I'm like you gotta be kidding me right?  That is so important you have to yell at me across the nurses station and be all rude for a tetanus shot status?  Give me a break.  So I go "Well, that certainly isn't an emergency.  When I get finished with my conversation here, I will find out for you."  Well just about everyone's mouth was hanging open on that one.  I mean, how rude!  So when Mr Important left that morning he knew I was pissed and left a note on my car apologizing.  A NOTE ON MY CAR!  Give me a break.  I'm going to give it back to him the next shift I work and tell him that apologies are more genuine when they are person to person.  Why not apologize to me in front of everyone like he yelled at me in front of everyone?  Ugh.  When is my transfer going through?  Not soon enough!!!

Okay, sorry for the rant.   If you are up and on, will you pray for a safe flight for the girls?  You know how anxious I get when Hannah flies.  I can hardly eat or sleep until I know she has landed!

I'll try and get on later if my computer cooperates.  David took his, and the laptop he left is finicky.

 Ciao and much love!  De ;)

Tags: Flying on a jet plane