Saturday, March 3, 2007

Time Stands Still

...when you in a hospital. Poor Dad was in such utter pain with his knee throughout the night, that he had the unfortunate pleasure of having an ambulance ride to Solders Memorial Hospital yesterday morning (7:00am). That was pretty upsetting for everyone. Out patients was a very long and tiring event, and finally at 4:00 in the afternoon, they admitted Dad into a room on medical floor to get some drip antibiotics and to be observed for the night. They think he may have an infection in his knee joint and the doc drained off some of the liquid that was causing all the pain. We will know today if the antibiotics have made a difference by today.
A little something to say about Nurses......oh my GOD, the are working so hard. They are a special breed of people. We met several nurses yesterday and LPNs (not sure what that means) and they were ALL amazing. Every one of them had a truly caring attitude towards my precious dad, like he was there dad too. How can they do that when they have just met him. The Outpatients nurse was Melody Palmer Morse and she was so caring, and really was concerned for Dad and originally, he was to be kept in outpatients on an 24 inch wide stretch bed in a room with 4 other beds that would be busy all night with "emergency" patients. But she was insistent to the Doc that my dad needed to be somewhere where he could rest and have time to heal. Sure enough, and I don't know how, she found him a bed upstairs on the medical floor. Which felt like a hotel when we got there. Dad said the bed felt like was in a double. And he had controls to put it up and down and all that. Oh, and when we got to the room, you should have seen the three nurses who stripped him down and dressed him in a Johnny and did the assessment. They were totally sweet but yet tough enough to stand up to his sharp comments (all in fun) and they gave it right back to him. I felt pretty good leaving him in there caring hands...

In amongst a long boring, yet interesting day at the hospital, I was in contact with home because Stephanie was travelling across the Maritimes on a bus heading home for March Break. She started her trip at 11 am and arrived home last night through the storm at 10:30pm. From Fredericton... ugh.. Poor Kid. But she is home, and as tired as I was, we stayed up and chatted til midnight, getting caught up on things... Michelle kept busy text messaging Stephanie on the bus (cheaper than phone calls on a cell) and when I got home, I was taught how to text message for when I am in the hospital today. Should be interesting. Dad is pretty insistent that he is coming home today... but I have other thoughts... we shall see.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Grey's ... where are you?

Chantal and I were talking today about Blogs and how fun they really are. I told her I could blog every day cause I have so many things to say.... but.... I figure it would drive everyone crazy and then no one would visit my blog... but then, that's OK too. So, Chantal, lets try and blog every day. (After report cards)

Grey's.... repeat. I had a long chat with my two friends (Shawnda and Betsy) who are the executive producers of the show. They talked to me for 27 minutes about the last show. (OK, it was the Podcast on Grey's) Great insight into the show, let me tell ya. They are hilarious... anyway, they let me know that the next episode is not airing until March 15th. This, I assume, is to help the teachers tonight finish up those last few report cards. Anyway, they talked about Meridith and her relationship with her mom, and Meridith was saved by Derek but she needed to save herself. She had to go through this "Wizard of Oz" journey to realize that everything she wanted she already had. They talked about the love affair between Christine and Meridith as true friends. They talked about Denny and his love for Izzy and how this affected Meridith. They talked about wanting to do a show just about all the dead people from the show. And they made lists of them all to see how many and they said there were too many to bring back. But when they made the list they narrowed it down to the 4 most important dead people. Anyway, it was a great listen. I listened at the gym while beginning my first workout with my new "hi Tech' Nike+Ipod Pedometer. http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/
My sister has challenged me for the next 10 days. She, who runs 5 km, three times a week. Ugh. But tonight, I ran 1 km, to calibrate my new pedometer, and the 3.5 km on the treadmill (with a few walking minutes in between). Its all calibrated on my iPod and when I plug it into my iTunes on the computer, it sends all my information to this website, and also to my "challenge" acct, that my sister can see. She is watching me..... ugh. so, to make the run more interesting, I downloaded the latest "Grey's PodCast" and you know the rest of the story.
Family News- for those interested
*Stephanie comes home tomorrow via bus. It was going to be via ferry on Saturday but the weather sounds just too bad for crossing the Bay of Fundy. So, she will spend a long tiring Friday on the bus. But as she said, it gives her an extra day home while Michelle and Scott are home.
*Michelle and Scott will leave on Sunday, to go back to St. FX. Michelle actually has a "staff" meeting on Sunday night at 9:00pm. Imagine. That is university living. I would be off to bed shortly past nine o'clock at night, and they hold most of their meetings at that time.
* Terry's Dad (see blog on Jan 31st) has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease, just a week or so ago. He is currently in the hospital and just received his first chemo treatment. He is sort of unstable as far as health right at the moment, with various things. Last week, fluid on his lung, and some leg swelling. This week he had a very rough weekend, and was admitted to stabilize just a few little things like "levels" of things. So, tonight he is resting in a private room, and has a virus which they are combating as well. This is so new to us, and Kelly, Terry's baby sister is our link to him. She has been keeping both our family and Kim (other sister) up to date on all the happenings and I know that isn't very easy for her.
*Stranger still, my dad has been hit with something rather suddenly today and has escalated into quite a painful thing. His knee has locked up, and is quite painful, and he is curled up in bed, unusually early, with chills and is quite sore. I had to help him out of his chair and into his room. I will be sleeping on the couch down stairs tonight (to his dismay) because I have a feeling that he is not going to have a good night.

Knock Knock.... Who's there..... TANK....... TANK Who? ......oh, your welcome.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Blogs are funny

I actually spend some time this weekend reading other peoples blogs. I thought it was so funny to see on my friends blogs, a list of blogs that they read and some of them, they don't even know these people. I actually thought..."that's weird". But... this weekend, I came up with a fantastic idea for an Xmas gift for Terry for next year. I thought I would like to get him some tickets to a taping of the "Rick Mercer Report". I searched the website and saw that all his tapings are sold out for this season, which is ok, since I want them for next season. So, for fun, I "Googled" Rick Mercer tickets.
Well, I got a couple of hits with no luck, but then I came up with this girls blog. She went to the taping and I read all about her experience. In was in 2006. Then I read a couple more of her blogs, and then I got hooked on reading her stuff and her comments. I found her blog from this month and spent an hour reading her happenings.. what a hoot. She is hilarious and "real". anyway, I think I will pop in on her blog from time to time to see how things are going with her.

Michelle and Scott are home from St. FX for the week and it is fun to have them home. Michelle is knitting up a storm, and relaxing so far. She had a disappointing appt with the Dentist today... and that was the subject of much ranting at supper. I miss her little rants... she certainly can tell it like it is.. Scott walked the streets of Greenwood, drumming up some prospects of summer jobs. Michelle will do that tomorrow, I think.

Lent... going well. Its a tough time of the year most of the time... because the weather usually sucks (except today of course) school is usually nuts...year end finances, report cards.. staffing talk.. But, its particularly tough this year, as we found out last week that our principal is leaving and moving onto a new job at the board level. It's a great job for her, and the right decision, but for us, its one of the toughest times of the year to lose a great leader and such a fun person to be around. It makes each day a little tougher, when you are worried about the outcome of a new principal. ugh... thank GOD for Lent. Because, its a positive focus for me. It is giving me some inner peace.

Please visit Chantals' blog... please, and if you do, please leave her a comment. She is now enjoying the fact that she has a counter (to watch how many come to visit her blog) but is totally freaked that no one is leaving her a comment.... she want to hear from you people. Gotta love her... truly... gotta love Chantal. And Thanks Chantal for including us in your "Chinese New Year" today... my fortune cookie said something lovely about love and friendship but I lost the fortune to some sweet and sour sauce and couldn't read it after a bit.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Quilts of Love



As I have mentioned in previous blogs...my sister, Gail, has 5 grandchildren. Jessica, her oldest granddaughter will be 8 in early March. This year, Gail has made quilts for each of them so far. The triplets turned 5 just 3 weeks ago and she made them each a quilt for their beds. Jessica's, she just finished.


Jessica, picked out the colors and the pattern, and Gail picked away at it since the beginning of February. To the right, you will see it all put together and ready for the quilting part. Gail chose the machine quilting method because this quilt is for an 8 year old.

Below you will see the quilting all done. It is just amazing. Gail and Jessica have decided that they will enter Jessica's Secret Garden in the quilt show which is in May this year. Jessica will invite all her family and friends to the show to see it. She hasn't even seen it herself yet, but she can just imagine what it will look like. I love the fact that Gail has included Jessica in all the decision making of the quilt and I think it will be so special for Jess to see the outcome of all their planning together.

Emily, the last grandchild to get a quilt, will be turning 6 in July, so they have some planning to do, once Jessica's birthday is over. Emily is madly in love with kittens and pink, and this may cause a few little problems with planning for a quilt. Gail has stated to these two older granddaughters, that they will get another quilt in 5 years, so this one will have to last them for the next 5 years. Because of this, Jessica chose a more "grown up" color and pattern for hers, but that logic is lost on Emily who can't seem to think beyond PINK and KITTY... I will keep you posted.


The Triplets also had input into their quilts, and I will send along pictures of those when I get the pics from my sister. Should be tomorrow. I believe one of them had teapots on it... can't remember the other two.


My sister is an amazing sewer, and has lavished those kids with beautiful Christmas Concert outfits, and Halloween type outfits, party dresses, and magic capes so far this year. Beside a church quilt (a quilt top she makes and donates to her church, for the ladies to quilt and raffle off). I would love to put some pics on of the outfits and costumes... with permission from Gail. (maybe in my next blog!)

Grey's chat....

I hate shows that have "dream" scenes, and flash backs etc... but it was ok with Grey's Anatomy this week. It was an interesting show, and I wonder if you really do see other people when you go. I hope so, cause there are a couple of people I would like to catch up with on the other side. McDreamy was such a great actor in that episode, very believeable, along with Christine.. I am glad Meridith survived. Would have been a very down show if she had kicked off...

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

NOOOOO.... I haven't updated yet

But I will.... tomorrow night. But for those of you who care to know... Today is ASH WEDNESDAY. Lent... is here... its time to reflect on yourself and make some improvements...

That's my day... talk tomorrow

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Storm Days.. gotta love em... really!!!

Ok, this is my second storm day. Although, by "contract" I am suppose to go into school on storm days... and, most days I do.... it doesn't mean I have to work while I am there! A storm day is a great sort of day to get lots of things done, because of the peace and quiet, and very few interruptions. BUT... there are just some days you don't feel like getting stuff done. Soo.... yesterdays' storm day "Got Done List"... Chatted with... Linda McA, Jilly Bean MacD, Shelley and Melissa the cleaners, a couple of parents... and of course Linda Young... who got a lovely little surprise from her hubby on Valentines day Morning. You guys will have to ask her yourself if you wanna know what she got for Valentines from her sweetie!! Oh, and while your asking, inquire as to what she gave to her hunny for the Valentines occasion! Sweet couple of love birds, they are!!
Ok, back to may snow day list.... so then... I went to Superstore with our big list of groceries needed for the staff breakfast for Thursday Morning!! ugh, big mistake, because I then had to answer to every parent I met as to why school was cancelled. ugh... In the words of Chantal McAlpine (whom hasn't updated her blog yet) I did the "WALK OF SHAME" though the grocery store aisles, averting my eyes when I recognized a parent.
Then back to the school... and did some payroll work with Linda Young and Linda Naugler... didn't feel like it, but it has to get done. People just don't have a sense of humor about their paychecks!! THEN.... Linda Y and I spent the rest of the afternoon, making breakfast for the staff... We made a gigantic bowl of fruit salad... yum... grapes, pineapple, strawberries, melons... oh...yum... Then we made Xmas Morning Wife Saver casseroles. http://www.dottysdiner.com/xwifesaver.html They have to sit over night before you bake them. We set up the staff room, and got everything ready for a yummy breakfast with our fantastic staff.
Of I went home to make brownies and a yummy supper for the two valentines in my life, my hubby and my dad. Curling was cancelled so I spent an hour with Curtis Stone, (thanks Kelly) my hunky Australian chef friend, that has a show from 6 to 7pm on TLC. I try and spend at least an hour a week with him, but I could spend an hour a day with him if I had the chance. http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/takehomechef/bio.html That was a nice treat since curling was cancelled.

TODAY.... I woke up at 5:30 and jumped in the shower that was for some reason very cold, and it never warmed up. I jumped out and blew my hair dry and then hopped back into bed to wait for the news at 6:00 but more importantly.. the 6:05 announcement about school cancellations... I would have had to get to school by 6:30 to turn on the ovens and have the Wife savers in the oven by 6:50 to have them all ready to eat... so I couldn't wait until the cancellation announcement to have a shower, just in case.... SO.... school was cancelled all across the province and I stayed snuggled in bed for another hour. But, once your up, the cats and the dog feel cheated or something, and they begin to perform. My cats were of the same mind as Stephanie's cats, and I quote from her "The cats held a gladiator show in celebration." The added mix at my house is when the cats start performing, the dog thinks its an audience participation show. She then needs to boom her big bark and big body across my room, down the hall and into the midst of two cats who then run down the hall, into the bedrooms, followed by Mollie who thinks she has a hope in hell of catching them. After the third round of this... they won. I got up and fed everyone. I made a pot of coffee and then snuggled down under the duvet and around Terry the furnace.. who has soundly slept though the alarm, the hair blowing, the cat vs dog show, and my very cold legs. I just start drifting off.... and the phone rings at 7:05am and its Terry's mom, with a computer problem. Ummm.... should I tell her he's sleeping or should I wake him up... (oh, he slept through the phone ringing too). Ahhhh.... I will wake him up!!! hee hee... Poor Joan, though, her computer is brand new, and they had a power outage last night in the city, and her windows program is fried!! Terry may have to do a home visit.
So... at 9:00 I made my dad's breakfast as a treat for him and then off to work to make breakfast for the staff. I baked all the Wife Savers and washed all the forks and spoons for breakfast, and can't find any knifes. Linda McAloney came in just on time to dry spoons and forks and we made one batch of tea biscuits for fun. yum, they were excellent. The Wife Savers are off in the fridge now ready to be heated up for breakfast tomorrow morning, and we will make the tea biscuits tomorrow morning. We had a nice visit with Erin Postle and Gerald Banks and then we all went home at noon..
This afternoon is mine... all mine and I am going to nap and make some treats for the weekend. I am off to Claire tomorrow, right after school to curling for the weekend. Debbie Walker, Wendy, Hazel and moi. Should be interesting with the weather the way it is... but a weekend away.. just the same.