A day out with my bro

It was a busy day. My brother had to do things in town...like get a new Canadian citizen card. What a hassle. His last set was lost and to renew stuff is an absolute nightmare. My brother has been a Canadian citizen since 1953 ....he has a Social's Insurance number, a BC ID number ,a medical number but because it has all been lost he has to apply for Canadian citizenship....yet again....omg!!!! The beurarcy!!! Then again you have to pay for all of this, and the photos..and of course the photos have to be a certain size. It is incredibe what we have to go through....and yet ....for some reason....we still get the terrorist in our country....someone please tell me how does that happen?

After having dealt with all of that my bro and I decided we needed some R &R. So I took my bro to a little pub at a marina close to home. Here is what we saw.

So after
This is my bro...looking out at the marina....do you see the Heron on the right side of him? That is the Heron that I have the close up of in the picture above.
This is a shot of Qualicum just at mid afternoon. The Bro and I were going for a libation.

And goodness here I am just before we go in for our last taste of the day. But we have the treat of looking out to the water....my goodness I feel blessed.

Hope you all had a fabulous day....Cheers!!!!

My mother always told me...

I was driving home from work yesterday morning and there was this ad on the radio, which started with a joke from Homer Simpson. Marge was asking "What ever happened to please and thank you" Homer replied " They killed each other " At first I thought is was funny and such a coincidence to hear as a colleague and I had just been talking about a couple of the patients and wondered where their manners went.

I realize that if you are in the hospital you aren't at your best. If you were you wouldn't be there. Just because you aren't feeling doesn't give you the right to be constantly rude and to forget your manners. I ask you, is there any reason why a person can't say "may I please, or would you please" or something along those line. Rather than "get me this or that" or "why haven't you done...." or "Where have you been , I have been waiting..."

I don't know it just seem so strange. There are those patients who I am convince think I am their personal attendant and that I should be at their beckon call. I have never been rude to a patient who has spoken poorly to me, although I do confess I have been extremely tempted sometimes. I must admit that I have had to be firm with some of them on an occasion and to remind them that they are not my only patient.

My colleague is of the opinion that it was mostly elderly who behave in this way whilst in the hospital. Her rationale is that she believes the seniors feel it is there right to be "waited on" they've worked hard done their time....etc. I tend to disagree. I think bad manners has become universal, and I think it is any particular age group or culture. I just think they either were never taught about manners or they chose to be down right rude.

There was this one lady who was in the 4 bed room who insisted on being up at 0200 to wash up. My colleague went in to tell her what time it was and that it wasn't really time for that and that is was disturbing the other patients. Her response was, I don't care I do this at home. Well sorry lady you aren't at home you are in the hospital and sharing a room with others who are unwell. Out of consideration for all please just go back to bed and wait till morning when day staff would be more than happy to help you get set up for your wash. Then there was who I call Mr. Grumpy pants. He didn't give a hoot who was in the room he wanted this and he wanted that and he wanted his curtains open and on and on. He was so rude not only to us but inconsiderate of the other patients in the room.

My mother always told me:

You get more with honey than you do with water.
What goes around comes around.
Remember your manners.
Be mindful of your elders.
Speak kindly to one another, who knows that might be your future in law
Hold the door open for someone.
Offer to help carry a parcel when you see their arms are full.
Do what you can to help out.
Think of others before you think of yourself.

I guess those folks forgot to attend that class!

Hope you all have a grand day!!!!

Nice Wedding

Well I had the pleasure of attending my hubby's niece's wedding last evening. It made for a long day as I was up at 0500 worked an 8 hr shift and then tootled off for the festivities.

It's funny, you know how on the day of a wedding everyone hopes for nice weather. Well yesterday was so stormy, rain and high winds. Actually, hubby tells me the power went out for awhile. Anyhow, I started thinking. If you plan on getting married in November, you got to just expect for bad weather and if you get nice weather, what a bonus. Well as I said it poured. But just before the wedding the rain stopped the wind eased off and the sun actually came out. Amazing!

Weddings you always try to prepare and anticipate something going wrong. Right. There was many opportunities for things to go wrong. Especially seeing as the brides mom and dad were traveling from Colorado, making plans for the wedding from there etc. Well the brides mom told us that everything went extremely smooth. She was so pleased. But then something happened. You'll never guess. They had bought the brides dress in Vancouver cost them an exorbitent amount of money. They got it over the the Island and had it taken to the cleaners to have it steamed for the wedding. You getting an idea of what happened. The cleaners burnt a hole right in the front of the dress. It's like the melted a hole in the lace covering the gown. Can you OMG!!! The bride was surprisingly calm about it. I think I would have freaked! She just went with it. Used her bouquet to cover it during the ceremony and pictures. In actual fact, it wasn't noticeable from a distance. I was so proud of how she handled it.
The happy couple! My hubby was so sweet. He cried the whole way through the ceremony. His little niece married.
Mr and Mrs. O'Gorman
I think this is a great picture of my hubby(back row left) and his brothers and sister and mom and dad. The brother on the right is the father of the bride. He is in the military and currently stationed in Colorado. The family don't have a chance to get together very often so this was a very special moment.

Here is one of me and Douglas aka hubby. A good time was had by all. We opted not to make the long trek home and stayed at a lovely resort right on a golf course. It was a huge suite could have had a big party in the suite itself. But by the time my head hit the pillow it was 0230 in the morning and I had been up for almost 22 hrs. I am off to work tonight and gosh that is about the last thing I want to do!

Hope you all had a grand weekend!

It's raining

The weatherman was wrong. Surprise, Surprise. The rain has come a day early. Was suppose to go for a run with my girlfriend. Chickened out. Called her, told her it was an indoor exercise day. So onto the stepper I must go.

Still a bit sore from yesterday. I was busy taking down some Halloween decorations and well one thing led to another. I ended up giving my kitchen suite a polish. You know using the fine wool pads and then using the oil and polishing. That is a job. Well if that wasn't enough. I decided to get a head start on some of my pre-Christmas cleaning and I washed the walls in my main bathroom in anticipation of painting it before Christmas. I don't know why I do this to myself. I am just looking at my work schedule for November and it is full. Not only I am working full time but I have taken on a temporary assignment to run the "Flu clinic" for my doctor's office. Silly girl!

I hope today finds you all well. And don't let the weather keep you from doing what you want to....ok!

The seasons change

Halloween is just over and it is as though father winter knew this as well. Woke up this morning with a very heavy frost on the ground. I was reading a blog today and she was saying how she experienced her first snowfall just recently. The area in which she mentions is notorious for extreme weather conditions and sudden weather changes. It is a well travelled route for people travelling from the interior of the BC to the mainland and a major trucking route. It is very beautiful, I have gone through that route and the snow piles from the ploughs has been over 20 feet high, it's like going through a tunnel.

I was listening to the weather man this evening and he was saying we are in for some wet weather. Which is the norm for us this time of year. However, he went on to say how our rainfall was far below average all over the island for Ocotober. Tofino, which is surrounded by a rainforest was under it's average rainfall by almost 200cm(1 cm= 2.54 inches) so that is a lot of rain. Where I live our rainfall was down by about 75 cms. It has been really dry, and sunny. We have been spoilt, but we do need the rainfall.

That gets me thinking...is this part of the global warming they are talking about. All this climate change? I have noticed the changes in our weather ever since I was little. I remember school being cancelled because of the snow or the flooding from all the rain. We don't seem to get much of that anymore. We still experience all the seasons, but summers seemed to be hotter, fall is warmer and lasting longer....and when winter comes it comes with vengence. Doug tells me that in 1996 they got 54 inches of snow in three days. Now that is a lot of snow!!! Have any of you notice this at all where you live? The climate change. What's going on in your backyard? Or should I say neck of the woods?

Halloween Package

My Halloween package arrived!!! I was going to give up on the postal service when lo and behold when I went to the mailbox yesterday it was there waiting for me.

I don't know who was more excited, my husband or me. We were already on our way out, but he really wanted to open the package, not having a pocket knife with us he used the very next best thing....you got it...a key.

He was like a kid in a candy store....he tore open that package faster than a puppy chewing on a new shoe. I had to pull over and examine the contents. Here are pictures of what was inside:
To the left of the picture is a kitchen witch...for those of you who don't know about the powers of the kitchen witch, let me tell you. She's the witch in the kitchen who keeps away the bad karma when you are baking...wish I had her when I was baking the other day!! Then on both sides are spider candles holders with candles...aren't they neat. What about the cute little ghost and kitty hanging decoration. Then there were a package of orange tea lights those great cookie cutters, one was a cat, a witch and a ghost and they are all sitting on a lovely autumn placement.

This wonderful package was compliments from my blogger friend Martie at "grandmamocha" site. Thank you so very much. I am sorry the postal service took so long to deliver this wonderful parcel. Bee from Muffin53 can tell you stories about the postal service...can't you Bee!

I must apologize for the delay in posting this today. I have been trying since this morning to post pictures with blog but it just wouldn't happen. I have a couple more I want to share but I fear it will take forever to have blog post more pics. So I leave it at this and again thank you so very much Martie everything is just wonderful!!!!!

My Halloween post

Happy Halloween all. Wow there are some great Halloween blogs out there. I am having so much fun viewing them all. One of the blogs that I visit regularly posted pictures of her dressed for Halloween of years gone by. So I thought to myself, I love to dress up too...so where are all my pictures....dang ....there really aren't any. Being one of 12 children I guess mom and dad kinda of got bored taking pictures....I was baby number 10. But here is a post of 4 of my brothers and my sister. I am the one in the witches costume. I was about 6 years old.

Me and my brothers and sisters.

How silly do I look here....my version of the hippy era....Oh and here I am with my sister the fairy and a family friend the cheerleader. That was one of my attempts at sewing.

Oh and here is an earlier attempt at sewing for Halloween. The court jester and clown.

And here are some of my traditional Halloween treats. My pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin loaf.

Well that is my Halloween post. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

Alright already....

Hello my fellow bloggers.....Sorry for the delay and absence in the blog world. Been a busy few days. It was hubby's Bday yesterday, and my brother who is staying with us has been ill and had a visit to the emergency department today, so I haven't had much time for doing anything.

Camera update: Still learning how to use the thing. WOW it can do a lot but need a few lessons I think. Here are a couple of pictures I took of the quail that visit my yard on a daily basis. There are about 18 or so that visit every day, along with the Stellar jays.

So, as I said it has been a couple of crazy days. However, here are the first pictures from my camera.

I really wanted to show you pictures of my hubbies Bday. Oh I slaved. I made homemade salsa(using ingredients from my garden), homemade bean dip, homemade cherry cheesecake, according to my brother who is a chef for over 20 years, tells me that my cheesecake is "Up there with the best" now I take that as a huge compliment. Hubby had requested a special meal his being a 1 1/2 thick T-bone, mash potatoes with onions, my addition to the request was a butternut squash puff, sauted snowpeas with red peppers and homemade cheese and chive biscuits. Oh, I am getting hungry again. Sorry folks, I wish I had my camera, but I was a tad tired from cooking to be a photograher as well. Hubby was pleased. Family was present the fire was blazing the candles were glowing the ambiance was there I am told.

Hope all my blog friends are doing well, and wish you all a Happy Halloween!!!

The new camera is here!!!!

Oh I can't believe it...it finally arrived. My long awaited camera. Yahoo!!! Kid in a candy store now. OK. blog world look out. Batteries are charging. But when they are ready.....oh my chicken pot pie...are we going to have fun!!!!

I know, I know....I shouldn't get that excited. But I have envied so many of you who have had the luxury of having a camera on hand to take the just so photo. Well, we finally broke down and decided to get one. Actually, what we did was this. Seeing as we can never seem to be able to use our airmiles for trips(never right time of year ...ya da ya da)hubby and I decided to cash in some of our points and get a camera. It's a Sony DSC- H2 6.0 mega pixels 12x optical zoom 1000 iso with a zeiss lens....so excited!!!!! Blog world beware. Woman on a mission with a camera.

Going onto nightshift tonight so won't get a chance to break it in. But I tell you once I do......wow!!!

I was looking out my window as I often do in the morning, and we have this family of quail about 18 of them that visit my bird feeder on a regular basis. The stellar jays are here as well( was going to post a picture of a stellar but blogger is acting up....yet again.)so that isn't going to happen.

Anyhow my fellow bloggers. I am excited!!!

The window cleaner is here!

Well I think I have made it through another month without too much grief. Although, I am sure my loved ones around me might beg to differ. Hubby in particular.

Now with that being said the sun is shining and window cleaner is here cleaning the grime off of those windows. As you can see there are a lot of windows at my place. The dormers are pretty high and I would far rather it be him climbing up there on the ladder than me.

Now that reminds me of a story.

Douglas was busy working on my car and had just taken it out for a test drive, when I decide I will get up on the ladder and clean the inside windows in the livingroom. WOW was it high. I don't like heights, but neither does Douglas. I figured someone had to clean them, and as much as I wished for the magic window cleaning geanie to appear she/he never did.

So there I was cleaning the top of the top of the window...stretching to reach that last spot, when you guessed it, the ladder slipped. OMG!!!!

I was able to find my balance on the window ledge and screaming at the top of my lungs hoping that someone would hear me....but who? Not where I live. Then there was Bert. Mighty Bert. Go for help Bert. Go for help! No, there he sat so majestic on the hill, just looking at me. wondering why I was balancing myself so precariously on that window sill.

I somehow managed to maneuver myself off of the ledge. The ladder had lodged itself up against our huge granite table....thank god for stone. It was almost parallel with the floor by that time. Trembling I got down.

I immediately I went to the couch to lay down. Douglas finally arrives home it seemed like he was gone for an eterniy. He takes one look at me and realizes that something was amiss. I tell him my story. That is that last time I have been up that ladder.

So here I am sitting at my computer typing and he the window cleaner is doing his thing. He has become my new friend.

Hope you all are having a grand day!!!

The Hormone Hostage

Ever have one of those days. Things are going great, the sun is shining. The kids are actually getting along. That recipe you've always wanted to make but have put off for fear of not turning out, but today you make the attempt and it works!!!

Then out of no where, it's like getting hit by a Mac truck. It comes over you. You thought you were going to be safe from it, but oh no, it finds you and it finds you with vengence. That generally kind, considerate, couldn't do enough for anyone kinda person, becomes this crazed woman.

My hubby knows what's happening. He tries to console me, he actually does vacuuming with out even being asked. You know what I am talking about don't you ladies? Yes the dreaded "PMS" or better yet we become the "The Hormone Hostage"

I know right about now I should be posting some picture of a crazed woman, but the thought of attempting to maneuver the internet and copy and paste is just about enough to throw me over the edge this morning. Normally I would have the patience to work my way through it, and make this a witty and appealing post. But not today. Today, I would rather throw this damn computer out the window.

The Hormone hostage knows that there are days in the the month when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his life in his own hands.

My hubby thought it would be funny to send me this little email, it's entitled "A mans survival guide to PMS" tell me what do you think ladies?


Dangerous: What's for dinner?
Safer: Can I help you with dinner?
Safest: Where would you like to go for dinner?
Ultra Safe: Here, have some wine.

Dangerous: Are you wearing That?
Safer: Wow, you sure look good in brown!
Safest: Wow! Look at you!
Ultra Safe: Here, have some wine

Dangerous: What did you Do all day?
Safer: I hope you didn't over-do it today.
Safest: I've always loved you in that robe!
Ultra Safe: Here, have some more wine.

Then he has the audacity to send this little tidbit:

Things PMS Stand for:

• Psychotic Mood shift
• Perpetual Munching SPREE
• Puffy Mid-Section
• Provide me with Sweets
• Pimples May Surface
• Pass My Sweatpants
• Pissy Mood Syndrome
• Plainly, Men Suck

It closes by saying: Pass this on to all of your hormonal friends and those who might need a good laugh!.....Or men who need a warning.

And remember: Money talks ......but Chocolate SINGS!!!!!

I guess we could classify this as a medical therapy....couldn't we?

A weekend with my girls

Well I have finally gotten around to being able to make a post. You know the work thing.

Here we are the middle of the month actually I guess we are closer to then end of the month. My daughters are here for the weekend. My youngest daughter will be celebrating her 14th birthday with me.
Her actual Birthday is the 25th. So it will be cake and present time tomorrow. I loved it when she was little, we would have a party for her and all of the guests would arrive dressed in Halloween costumes. It got them primed for the big day. We would play games, like pass the parcel, musical chairs, bobbing for apples. The favorite was the pinita. We would hang it from the ceiling in the garage and all the little gremlins would take their turns hitting it. I loved it when it broke and to see them all diving for the candy. Sometimes, as an activity for the party I would have them design their own goodie bags so they could fill their bags with treats to take home. Oh it was fun. Now she will be 14, no more pinitas, but I bought this kit for decorating Halloween cookies, so that is what we are going to get up to this evening. She is really excited about the idea.

We are going on a road trip tomorrow. My hubby has to go do a little job on an island called Salt Spring tomorrow and has asked us to come along. It is about a 25 min. Ferry ride. The island is very popular with the tourists. Lots of B&B's and it has a wonderful farmers market on Saturday's. There is a quaint lake and wonderful look out spots that I will take the girls to see. The weather is suppose to be wonderful, so it seems like a great opportunity to get out and about.

Well the girls and I are going to go for a run. I know I will but pulling up the rear. But I love to get out with them. How often would I get a chance to go running with all three girls. Not that often. I think it's a lot more fun than getting on my stepper, and they challenge me.

Anyhow, my fellow bloggers, I hope you all have a great day and weekend.

A chance for a new beginning

The other day my post talked about a variety of topics. One of the topics was the recent visit of my eldest brother.

Life is interesting. Life is rolling along and you think you know someone, then life throws you a curve ball, and everything changes.

My eldest brother. I never knew him. He was 15 when I was born, and his life had already drew him away from the family home. Life's circumstances took him to the four corners of the world. I didn't know this until recently when he came to stay we my husband and I.

Some would have called him the black sheep. He made some bad choices in friends and lifestyles. The choices led to years of criminal activity and drugs. He unintentionally alienated himself from the family. But through those years of alienation he experienced a life that you and I can't imagine. Some of them great, some of them questionable. But it is experiences that have made him who he is today.

We were sitting watching T.V. the other day. Watching the United Nations put the sanction on North Korea, when my brother starts on his experience in Red China when he was on a freighter from Shanghai to Vancouver transporting wheat and all of his experiences.

Then he talks about his travels through Europe, Australia and the middle east, and the worst, getting buried in a mine. We talked for hours. I never knew any of this. I was astounded at how well read he was and how he was so versed in current affairs.

You know how looks can be deceiving. Well that would be my brother. If you saw him on the street, you would most probably hold tightly onto your handbag, make sure you locked your car and double checked to make sure it was locked. When he came to me a week ago, he looked far older than his years, haggard, tired, disheveled. Now, almost a week later, the tired worried eyes have lessened. I see a more relaxed individual a person who sees there is a tomorrow.

For those of you who have read my blog on a fairly regular basis, you would know how I spoke about how do I say this ....a potential paranormal visit. In hind sight, I now believe that the dreams and things I was experiencing was my sister reminding me of a promise I made to her before she died. She asked me to look out for my brother, to help him how ever I could. I never in a million years would have thought that this is what she meant. But now, looking at my brother, this seems like the most natural place for him to be.

Thanks for the reminder sis.

God bless.

Wishing you all well.

Mustang Sally

I started thinking about my car this morning and wanting to clean it. They say it might rain today, so maybe I can get away with not having to wash it. That thought brought to mind my experiences I have had with that car in the short time I have had it.

Road trips, as I have told you, are common for Doug and I. We wake up, look at each and decide where we will go today. Actually, we don't even say that, just what direction North, South, East or West. We might pack a tooth brush but that's about it. Let me first introduce you to my baby...

Here she is a 2004 Mustang GT convertible anniversary edition. I haven't named her...she is just my baby.

She is such a good girl, drives like stink. But that is where I start to get into trouble. I have been driving for over 20 years. Up until I got my baby, I had never had a ticket in my life. You guessed it.

My first ticket happened one summer evening I was driving to work, late I might add. I had just come off of the highway which has a posted speed of 110Km/hr. As you and I all know, who sticks to the speed limit. Anyhow, I come off of the highway merging into traffic, I have slowed a bit but not much....I am just passing a camper when you guessed it, the boys in blue get me. Dang, and did they ever get me, I got a ticket for excessive speed....130 km in a 80km zone....but I was going down hill officer....that cost me big time $380.00 smackers.

You'd think I would learn after that one. No not me and not my baby, she still wants to travel at excessive speeds. Doug and I were road tripping. I was a glorious day sun shining, roof was down, road was clear ahead for about 2 km and nothing behind us. We were just enjoying the tunes, when lo and behold, out of now where ...there he is....the man in blue yet again. He was far more pleasant then the first officer. We joked, talked about the weather and how my car had a mind of it's own. He told me I should teach it a few lessons, gave me my ticket and said have a nice day. $138 later.

It was spring, driving down to the capital traffic had been heavy, logging trucks, transport trucks, motorhomes, and little old men in hats. All driving to slow for my baby. The car in front of me started it, he pulled out picked up the pace, I followed. You guessed it again, I got caught. Dang!!! Another boy in blue, and he was not a happy camper. $138 again.

So you do the math, how much have I paid in tickets now? $614.00 smackeroos. Ouch!!! You know I never thought of myself as a bad driver. You see I have never been in an accident, I don't tail gate, I don't cut people off, I just like to drive fast. But I guess I am guilty.

So my birthday was this past August, the government decides it wants to give me a present, they send me another fine for my bad driving history over the past year...guess how much.....$640.00 double ouch!! So I have paid over $1200 in speeding tickets in a year. Think I have learn't my lesson? Not sure. I can tell you this, I have learn't to use my cruise control. Personally, I think I get caught as much as I do, because of the type of car I drive it's a magnet for the cops. They always have their eyes out for sports car. But, I know I am in the wrong. But I just can't help it.

Have a great day all.....and drive safe!

Just catching up

Thank you all for your support once again, as I attempted to figure out this darn blog thing. As I hadn't deleted my old blog I have been making changes to it and was going to go back and use that one. It at least allows me to do the sidebar links without moving things to the bottom of the page. I know TJ you suggested ignoring what it looked like re it being at the bottom, but I was fearful that it would stay that way and I didn't want that. So I have been fiddling. Along with that I have been working overtime shifts so my time has been limited.

I have tried to stay on top of the world around me that being you my blog friends and current news. OMG can you believe what is going on in Korea....wassup with that??? What about New York, yet again tragedy? It will be interesting to see what the investigations comes up with on that one, don't you think? Just seems so strange to me....like what is a plane doing in the middle of New York city?

In my own little world, I have so many things going on. I have had my eldest brother move in with me and hubby due to difficult life circumstances for him. It has been a bit of an adjustment for us but he is family, and if we can help him out...then why not. I must say he has been helpful. Doug got a cord of wood today that needed chopping and stacking, so my brother started off by making a "lean to" up against the shed in order to store more of the wood. Doug busied himself using the chainsaw cutting the wood into workable pieces. Can you say, getting ready for winter. The guys were also occuppied by gathering and burning the brush that had collected over the summer, as we can't burn during the summer. I on the other hand was at work. hmmmmmmm....guess I lucked out on that one. Oh but Doug has plans for me tomorrow. Have to get the quads in for servicing and prepared for the winter. I can hardly wait to get out on my quad. This is my youngest daughter quadding...what a hoot. Where I live we are minutes from forestry logging roads so we are fortunate to be able to just hop on our bikes and ride.

The girls are coming next weekend for Roisin's Bday. That should be fun.

Just wanted to say a quick hello to all my blogging friends. Hope life is treating you all well. Take care!!

Life's funny sometimes....Isn't?

Just when you think you are getting the hang of things, life throws you a curve ball. Well in my case, it's blogger who is throwing me the curve ball.

If you hadn't noticed my template has change. There I was minding my own business, trying to be fancy and add a calendar to my sidebar. The instructions actually were fairly easy. The problem seemed to be once it was posted the whole calendar wouldn't show, as if it wouldn't fit the space I was trying to post it. Well I played with it and I played with it, till I ran out of time and almost went ballistic and wanted to send blogger back from whence it came. I managed to calm myself and gather my composure and decided to do the adult thing.... Just step away. IN the back of my mind I am hoping that something miraculous would happen when I returned...Like it would all be fixed. Wishing and hoping that the magic computer gremlins would come and pay my computer a visit and tell it to smarten up.

But it didn't happen they didn't show, or maybe they did and my computer aka blog just doesn't like me today. So, on to plan B. All is not lost I thought, I shall just leave the thought of putting a calendar on my blog alone for a little while....and maybe when it decides it wants to come out and play then I will come back to it. So that is what I did.

There I was happily minding my own business and wandering through the blog world, when I came across a blog that I very much enjoyed reading and wanted to add to my list blog friends. So off I go to my template....do do la da da la....doing my thing adding my new blog friend....then it comes time to preview it. Hmmmmmmmm......where is it? Not there? Not only is it not there but the rest of my side bar is missing. What the.....I scrolled down....further and further and there it is....my sidebar at the bottom of my blog. How can this be....I follow the steps I have for all my other entries. Then it dawned on me. Could it be possible? Please say it isn't so. Did I delete something from my template when I was trying to figure out how to post the calendar? Oh woe is me.....

So I think how can I check to see if that is the case. Then it comes to me. Check a new template and see if the data is all the same. Well as far as I could tell it was. I'm stumped now. Mind you the way things have been going for me lately with blog nothing surprises me.

So I tinker some more...nothing seems to work. So I opted to change my whole template and start from scratch. Yup I thought ...ok you can do this...your remember all of the steps. Well ....I thought I did.

So here I am with a new template....ready to add you all back on again and fix it up. Guess what.....it still does the same thing. I try to enter anything on the sidebar and it all drops to the bottom of my blog.

I will not let this get the better of me....I will perservere.....this may mean I won't have new posts for awhile. But I will try and come visit all of my blog friends.

Hope your day has started off better than mine. Actually, this is the end of my day....just home from a night shift...it's 0750 my time.....off to bed I go.

Chat with you all soon

Just a thought....

I've been wanting to do this post for awhile now. Seems like a funny weekend for me to choose to post this though, being our Thanksgiving weekend, and with all the good food that is going to be around.

With that being said, I want to talk about something....... weight.

In my 16 years as a RN, I have seen people of all shapes and sizes. The anorexic's the bulimic's the morbidly obese and the one's that I would call the average person, those are the one's who are within 5 - 10lbs of their ideal weight.

I am by no means an expert on food addiction issues and will not even attempt to address those issues. I will leave that to the folks who specialize in eating disorders. What research tells us is that people are overweight for a variety of reasons, genetics, lifestyles, and drug interactions just to name a few.

The purpose of this post is to bring to light the concerns I have when nursing an obese patient, and the challenges they present the health care system.
Please don't get me wrong. I try to provide all of my patients with the same level of care. The issue is that due to their size I am limited to what kind of care I can provide. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Mr. Smith(not his real name)arrives to the ICU post op for overnight observation for sleep apena. Mr. Smith is 291kg(640lbs). We don't even have a bed in our hospital that will accomadate him. So we order one in. Our over head lifts to help move patients in bed will not move him as their weight capacity is 190kg (420 lbs.) So immediately, I am faced with how do I care for him. How do I perform a proper assessment on this gentleman when I can't even move him. How do I listen to his lungs? How do I manage to give him a thorough post op wash? How do I provide him with some privacy and dignity when our hospital gowns don't even fit him? I couldn't care for him the way I could my other patients due primarily to his size. That is not right. It took 6 of us to move him( 4 female RNs and 2 male respiratory therapists) We don't generally have that luxury of having extra people around to help change, clean, and assess a patient. Normally I would do this on my own. Did he get the best care I could give him? Sorry to say no he did not.

Then there is the woman who is 5', her weight is 98kg(215 lbs). She is having chest pain and can't move herself around in bed. She slides to the bottom of the bed constantly,even with positioning the bed for her, somehow she manages to get to the bottom of the bed. It takes 3 of us to move her. I must apply ECG elctrodes to her chest. Finding the appropriate placement is difficult due to her size. As she is a cardiac patient we always want to minimize their movement hence decreasing the stress on the heart. It comes time for a washup. I assist her, while washing her I notice that she has skin irritation under her breasts and under abdominal folds. This causes her discomfort. These skin irratations are primarily there a result of her not being able to provide the best personal hygiene care due to her size. I help her with her wash and ask the doctor to order cream for the skin irritation. The medication comes and needs to be applied twice a day. By this time my shoulder is aching and I ask my colleague to help me lift the patients skin folds so I can apply the medication. The poor patient, where is the dignity in that. But I just can't do it alone anymore.

I have injured myself to many times trying to reposition larger patients in bed, give them bed baths, or to prevent them from falling on the floor. My poor shoulders and lower back have been strained one time to many.

I could go on, but I think you are getting the jist of what I am trying to say here. Never mind the increased costs that obesity puts on the individual and the health care system. It is the sheer reality, that I don't believe these patients get the best care they should, simply do to their size.

I am posting this after nursing two obese patients on my last set of shifts. By 0600 in the morning, my body has had it. Sorry folks but I can not do one more turn or repositioning it will have to wait until the next shift. How wrong is that?

I wish you all good health.

"An innocent victim of a lie told in silence"

Can you believe it. I found it!!!! I took all of your suggestions, and "Look mom see what I can do"

Thank you all so very much for your input. Wow, huge lesson learn't here.

As I said in my comment section today. I truly was ready to give up blogging for good, but with all the support I received from everyone I thought "dang" no way I have some very special friends in this blog world and I am going to perservere and fuddle my way through this. Thanks all :)!!!

The day has come to an end...most of you are in bed now....hence I have not done the link to everyone's post, hope you don't mind.

So here it is....albeit short....but my story...or should I say.........

Her story...

She sat there motionless, almost catatonic. Not knowing what to think.Life had not been easy for her. She struggled for everything she had achieved in her life. Sacrifice should have been her middle name. She was not a martyr. Oh no. She would not accept handouts or pity. If she was going to make it in this world it was going to be on her terms. She never wanted to be beholden to anyone.

Life was full of choices, she knew it. She had made choices. Some good, some not so good and some down right awful. But they were her choices. One of her choices which she regrets to this day, was giving up the love of her life.He was offering her security, a home and a life of leisure. This was not in the cards for her. Not now anyways. Or so she thought. She couldn't see herself settling down, not now, not after all she had worked for. Love was just one more of the sacrifices she made.

As she sat there contemplating what had just transpired, she couldn't help but wondered how could this have happened? She knew that in her climb to the top she had to turn a blind eye to some of the goings on. She knew that there were people out there that just wanted to see her fail. They were just waiting for the opportunity to make their move. She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that mankind could be so cruel.However, today, she saw the dark side of mankind. She realized that yes mankind could truly be that cruel. She knew that things would never be the same. Then without warning, just as if she had been struck by a lightening, it dawned on her. She had become what she feared the most, "an innocent victim of a lie told in silence."

That is my short story. Now pour youself another cup of java,put your feet up and read on. Below are more short stories by fellow bloggers all using the same ending. Happy reading everyone! Enjoy your day!

My Apologies.......

I can't believe it. Here I am the first one on the list. I wrote my little story last week. I have been editing it, working with, moulding it. Now the day is here and you aren't going to believe this. It wouldn't post. Not only would it not post, but it got lost. It is late, and I must get up at 0500 for work in the morning and fear that I will not have time to post a story. I feel so very bad about this. It wasn't that the story was really anything that special. It was that I wanted to be part of the whole story. Sorry gang~ I guess I should attempt mastering the post and blog world before taking on such a task.

I have so enjoyed reading the stories that have been posted. You are all such wonderful writers. I can't believe some of you haven't had something published yet.

I am looking forward to reading all of your stories.

Cheers all.

Canadian Thanksgiving October 9th.....Second Monday in October

Well as a result of my last post, I had a request to share what we here in Canada do for Thanksgiving. I believe we tend to do the same things as our neighbours to the south of us. I will share with you some of my family traditions and maybe some of my Canadian bloggers can add their traditions.

I don't think I am that different than my friends down south. I love to decorate for thanksgiving and fall. Leaf garlands, pumpkins, cornucopia flowing with gourds, wheat and whatever catches my fancy decorates my dining table. Autumn coloured candles fill my house, I love spices so you will find most of my candles scented with apple and spice.

My meal would consist of the traditional turkey. Now how the turkey is prepared is what varies. I have Bar-b-qued it, baked it, soaked it in a vinegar,spice and garlic brine for two days and then cooked it. I have heard people doing Cornish game hen instead of the turkey. Stuffing I like a pecan and cranberry stuffing, but my mom used to do a pork and onion stuffing....now her turkey took all day....I think it had to do with the size. It was usually about 25 lbs or more. Guess that is what happens when you feed a dozen kids and their spouses. Brussels sprouts and again the preparation vary. A dish I was introduced to by my ex's mother was a squash puff, which I absolutely love and make it to this day. I love the veggies portion, so on my table there would be lots of veggie dishes. The potatoes always varied. When I grew up they were "horseshoe potatoes" whipped potatoes then mixed with egg and flour rolled shaped into horseshoe shapes and then deep fried. Oh they are yummy!!! Time consuming though. I know my sister still makes them. Now for desert. If you still have room, there is always pumpkin pie with whip cream, apple pie and , fruit plates with cheese. Now I have never been a pumpkin pie fan, I do make a pumpkin pecan pie which I am told I could sell. I of course make my own pastry. My brother who was a cook for many years even compliments me on my pastry. After dinner we would sit around let dinner digest and then play a rousing game of charades.

Now my fellow Canadian bloggers, I would love you to share with our friends down south your traditions and fond memories of Thanksgiving.

Canadian Thanksgiving

I was reading on Pea's blog today where someone asked why Canadian Thanksgiving and American Thanksgiving were on separate dates. Well I knew the Americans celebrate thanksgiving based on when the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. I also know that in Canada the main reason we celebrate thanksgiving when we do has to do with our climate and when the harvest is ready for picking. But I wanted to know more so here is what I found:

Canadian Thanksgiving:

In Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north.
The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to an English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a northern passage to the Orient. He did not succeed but he did establish a settlement in Northern America. In the year 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. This is considered the first Canadian Thanksgiving. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him - Frobisher Bay.
At the same time, French settlers, having crossed the ocean and arrived in Canada with explorer Samuel de Champlain, also held huge feasts of thanks. They even formed 'The Order of Good Cheer' and gladly shared their food with their Indian neighbours.After the Seven Year's War ended in 1763, the citizens of Halifax held a special day of Thanksgiving.During the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada. There are many similarities between the two Thanksgivings such as the cornucopia and the pumpkin pie.

Eventually in 1879, Parliament declared November 6th a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular was the 3rd Monday in October. After World War I, both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which November 11th occurred.

Ten years later, in 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.Finally, on January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed..."A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October

So there you have it the reason why we here in Canada celebrate Thanksgiving on a different day they our friends south of the border.