Magic Moments Monday

Mondays, for most people, are the "Ho hum, weekend's over, work is WORK, and can't wait 'til Friday" type of day. My intent is to help us begin our week with something positive, something to hold on to, to get us through the rest of the week. Your entry can be a Scripture verse, a quote, an insight, something that touched your life or changed the way you look at things. I expect some of the first entries to be from the past, until we learn to look each day for those magic moments that remind us how wonderful life really is.

Please leave a comment with a way to find your post, either the link through your signature, or insert the link, so we can all read your experience. Then, on your post, link back to this post, so others visiting you can participate if they'd like.


Well, it's Magic Moments Monday and I am stumped. I guess I haven't been very observant this week, or open to inspiration, because I can't think of a thing. Not that it's been a bad week; it's been rather ordinary and uneventful. Now, I'm not complaining--I'm not one of those who has to be in constant crisis to feel alive, nor do I have to be on top of the world to have a good day. Sometimes a good day is just one in which everything proceeds as it should, a day in which you can feel just comfortable.

Comfortable, as in a marriage with someone you have loved for more than half a lifetime. There's a lot to be said for comfortable. And don't equate it with boring. I am comfortable in the fact that he loves me, that he will be there when I come home from work in the morning, and will be there when I wake up. I am comfortable in knowing he doesn't insist the house be spotless or that I be a gourmet cook (good thing!). I am confortable in knowing he adores our daughter and would never do anything to cause either of us harm. That is comforting as well as comfortable.

Here is how the dictionary defines comfortable:

1. producing or affording physical comfort, support, or ease: a comfortable chair; comfortable shoes.
2. being in a state of physical or mental comfort; contented and undisturbed; at ease: to be comfortable in new shoes; I don't feel comfortable in the same room with her.
3. producing mental comfort or ease; easy to accommodate oneself to or associate with: She's a comfortable person to be with.
4. more than adequate or sufficient: a comfortable salary.

Well, that is how J-Man makes me feel. He tries to make things physically comfortable for me, mentally comfortable, and he is more than adequate or sufficient for me.
This is what I strive to make him feel, too.

It's what I wish for all of you this week: being comfortable.

Possibilities

Okay, I can't ge the videos to play on here, but here are the addresses:

http://commcenter.mchsi.com/wmc/v/wm/47F125CD000CCE0C00006BC5219792474103010CD2079C080C03BF9D0A080C9A019B0B9A01040C/CarpentryEngineeringWalkingTable.wmv?cmd=MimePart&no=149&uid=314811&sid=c0&format=raw&mimepart=2.1&content_type=video/x-ms-wmv&name=CarpentryEngineeringWalkingTable.wmv

http://commcenter.mchsi.com/wmc/v/wm/47F125CD000CCE0C00006BC5219792474103010CD2079C080C03BF9D0A080C9A019B0B9A01040C/CarpentryEngineeringExpandingTable.wmv?cmd=MimePart&no=149&uid=314811&sid=c0&format=raw&mimepart=2.2&content_type=video/x-ms-wmv&name=CarpentryEngineeringExpandingTable.wmv

If you can paste them into your browser and watch them, it will be worth it.

"S" is for Saturday, Sewing, Scraps...

Well, my eyes are tired, but I am happy. I finally finished the baby quilt for our March of Dimes benefit at the hospital. Yeehaw!


I couldn't find anything in my Stash that I really liked for the backing, so I was forced to make a trip to my local quilt shop. It was a real Sacrifice. Truly.

I found Several fabrics that might have worked, but just didn't seem right. You know, you can put a baby girl in a blue blanket, but you don't dare put a baby boy in a pink blanket. And I couldn't find the right shade of green or yellow or even a peachy orange. So blue it was.

Whoever headed the March of Dimes benefit up at the hospital was really creative. Different departments have been competing against each other to raise the most money, and the winning department gets a pool party at a private School's gym. There have been raffles for massages and the hospital chef to cook your dinner, raffles for Easter and gift baskets, media and book sale, lasagna dinner, and this week is a "homegrown" craft sale. Since we're getting late in the game here, our team leader didn't want to start a raffle, for which I am kind of relieved, because I am still a novice quilter and would be embarrassed if it didn't sell for much. So I am putting it in the craft Sale, even though it's for another team. After all, it's all going for a good cause, and that was the purpose, right? So, I'm not really a traitor.

And I did come home yesterday morning, finish up another two batches of no-bake cookies for a dessert for the lasagna dinner, take a Shower, and go BACK over to the hospital to help out. By the time I hit the hay last night, I'd been up 30 hours (if you don't count the 45 minutes I Slept in the grocery store parking lot. Or the 30 minutes on the Sofa.) So my eyes are weary, and I think I'll put off working on my taxes til morning. (Did I mention I'm a Major Procrastinator?)

So I'll make myself be responsible and work on the taxes for a couple of hours and then Sew in the afternoon. I really want to put the Squares together for DD's string quilt. After Amanda was nice enough to find the fabric for me, the Shop hadn't updated their Site, and they didn't have the raindrop fabric in the blue. So we're back to figuring out the alternatives. However, DD liked the Sunny Showers fabric they had on site, and wants that for the backing. We discussed the fact that it might be hokey, but hokey is okey-dokey. After all, it's just for wrapping up and lying around on the Sofa and reading or napping or watching old movies. The cats assured her they didn't really care what color it was.

Well, if you've made it this far into my ramblings, you're a trooper. So I won't subject you to any more of it. Instead, you might want to head on over to MightyMom's place. Sarah hosts a Thesaurus Thursday every week with the answers and "awards" given out on Monday, so there's still time to play along. My brain is on furlough this week; I couldn't come up with a thing myself, but maybe you can!

My Town is Missing

A friend sent me this great site. You can click on it, find your state, and then your county and see old penny postcards of your area. Cool site!

I've found Albuquerque,

but do you see all that empty space between the town and the mountains? It's all filled up now--and I lived there!

And Birmingham, with Vulcan standing watch:




but I have never seen nor heard of this hospital:


Then I googled it and this is what I found:

It's currently University Hospital in Birmingham--which is a HUGE medical complex covering many blocks. Wow, what a change since 1944!

But when I click on my current town, it sends me to a page that states info might have been removed:
"We're sorry. The page you tried to access is not available
The page may have moved, or there may be an error in the address. Please check the address or try one of the resources below."

What did they do with my town?


Have fun!

Penny Postcards

Magic Moments Monday

Okay, no logo yet. That week off just wasn't long enough. Maybe by next Monday?

At any rate, here are the guidelines for those of you who haven't visited before:
Mondays, for most people, are the "Ho hum, weekend's over, work is WORK, and can't wait 'til Friday" type of day. My intent is to help us begin our week with something positive, something to hold on to, to get us through the rest of the week. Your entry can be a Scripture verse, a quote, an insight, something that touched your life or changed the way you look at things. I expect some of the first entries to be from the past, until we learn to look each day for those magic moments that remind us how wonderful life really is.

Please leave a comment with a way to find your post, either the link through your signature, or insert the link, so we can all read your experience. Then, on your post, link back to this post, so others visiting you can participate if they'd like.
Okay? Okay, let's go.

Back in 1971, I graduated nursing school one weekend, took state boards the next, and got married the next--and started work within 2 weeks of the wedding. I was 20, very much in love, and probably really DID glow. I know my new wedding ring did.

An elderly patient of mine grabbed my hand one night to look at my ring. "My, my," she said. "This is very pretty. You haven't been married long, have you?"

"No, ma'am," I told her. "Just a few months."

"Well," she said, "I hope you don't mind if an old lady gives you some advice on marriage."

Not that I thought I needed any (oh, the arrogance of the young), but I was polite. "No, ma'am."

"Learn his ways," she told me. "Learn his ways."

I pretty much brushed that off; after all, it was the 70's, and though I wasn't a feminist, I didn't see why I had to learn HIS ways--why shouldn't he have to learn mine?

But you know, the older I've gotten, and the longer we've stayed married, the more valuable I realize her advice was. What says "I love you" more than knowing what makes him happy and doing it? Or knowing what makes him annoyed, or upset, and NOT doing it? Isn't communication just that--learning his ways? Learning how he acts when his back is really paining him, learning when he's joking and when he's serious, learning when to back off in an argument, learning that he has to mull things over a bit if I spring a new idea on him, learning to listen to his take on the candidates, (even though I hate discussing politics), learning what makes him laugh, and what makes him feel I value him--are these not the building blocks of a good marriage? And if I go to the effort to learn his ways, doesn't that make him want to learn mine?

I'm still working on it--learning his ways.

She was a very wise woman.


Your turn!

Confessions

Well, it's my last full day off. (sigh) It's been great, even though I didn't get half of my list done. I don't know why I bother making lists, since most of them would require an entire season off to accomplish. I must be under the delusion I'm already retired or have won the lottery, or something.

I did get the 2007 tax info ready to go to an accountant. Have you looked at the instructions for filing online yourself? Sheesh! Just like anything else the government tries to write directions for....nothing simple about it. So now to find someone to do my taxes who can handle the SS and disability incomes. And I did start on my 2005 taxes yesterday.

Yes, you heard me right. Have I mentioned that procrastination is one of my major faults? I haven't done my 2005 NOR my 2006 taxes yet. Got a notice about the 2006s but shhhh...the IRS hasn't discovered the year before. Of course, posting it on the internet here is akin to waving the red flag and I'm sure to find another notice in the mailbox within 48 hours.

I explain it to J-Man by reminding him we always get a little money back, but then he reminds me we could use that money and the government isn't paying us any interest. Obviously, I'm not trying to keep from paying them any money; it's just, well, math was never my strong suit. After finishing yesterday, it took 400mg of Ibuprofen and Taco Bell to get rid of the headache. I'm thinking finishing the other 2 might require Red Lobster.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run a few errands. Just got the 3rd overdue notice from the library.....

Off night #5

Well, did you see? Amanda typed "raindrops" into quiltshop.com and found my fabric for me! I'm just waiting til my daughter gets back to me before ordering it, in case she wants me to back it with something else I need to order. Meanwhile, doing the happy dance!

Finished piecing the baby quilt top today, and now I need to decide on a backing and binding. Since I was trying to make it scrappy and from my stash, I'm trying to find a piece big enough to do the whole thing, but as I said before, I don't have a lot of pastels (except pink; I was on a pink streak last year), so I might just have to trek on down to the lqs and find something there. But it was a nice, rainy day, and as I sewed I listened to a few favorite CD's.


Anyone out there remember Nilsson's "The Point"? It was on TV many years ago, and the song "Me and My Arrow" came from that. It has to be one of my favorite CD's of all times. We had the 8-track (yes, I lived that long ago) and a few years back I found the CD on Amazon.com. My favorite song on there is:

"Think About Your Troubles"

Sit beside the breakfast table
Think about your troubles
Pour yourself a cup of tea
Then think about the bubbles.
You can take your teardrops
And drop 'em in a teacup
Take 'em down to the riverside
And throw 'em over the side
To be swept up by a current,
Then taken to the ocean
To be eaten by some fishes,
Who were eaten by some fishes
And swallowed by a whale,
Who grew so old,
He decomposed.
He died, and left his body
To the bottom of the ocean.
Now, everybody knows
That when a body decomposes,
The basic elements
Are given back to the ocean,
And the sea does what it oughtta
And soon there's salty water,
Which is not too good for drinkin'
'Cause it tastes just like a teardrop
So we run it through a filter
And it comes out from a faucet
Where it pours into a teapot
Which is just about to bubble.
Now, think about your troubles.

I just love that little song!

"The Point", for those of you who have never seen or heard it, is about a little round-headed boy who lives in a town of pointy-headed people. He and his dog, Arrow, ("because Arrow was found guilty of complicity") were banished to the Pointless Forest, where everything and everyone has a point. I guess you can make it about anything you want, but I see it as being about the uniqueness of each individual. It's a child's tale, but like most enduring children's stories, has a message adults can appreciate.

Anyway, it's the end of another mini vacation day, and to celebrate, here is a recipe for you. Cooking is not my strong suit, so trying to cook EVERY night has been a hassle. But I found a recipe I haven't used in a while--honey mustard chicken. It's easy, it keeps the chicken from drying out and you can cook it in the oven or the microwave.

Honey Mustard Chicken

2 1/2 - 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 C honey
2 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp ground hot red pepper
If you didn't use boneless, skinless chicken, remove skin and visible fat from the portions. Arrange chicken in single layer in baking dish. Stir together remainder of ingredients in small cup until well mixed. Brush chicken with half of the mixture.
If baking in oven, place in preheated 450 degree oven and immediately reduce temp to 375 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, turn chicken and baste with half of the remaining mixture; after 45 minutes in the oven, baste with remainder of mixture. Cook aprox. 10 more minutes and serve. (Total cooking time = 55 minutes.)

If using microwave, baste with half of mixture, and cook on medium to medium high for 10 minutes. Pour off fluid, turn chicken and baste with remaining mixture and cook on medium to medium high 7-10 minutes until cooked through.

That's it! So easy, so tender! I served it with brown rice, an apple/carrot/craisin salad, and green pigeon peas.

Guess I'll go mop the floor. Tomorrow that will seem preferable to doing the taxes, so I need to remove that "temptation". I am SUCH a procrastinator.

Fabric Therapy

Judy Laquidara over at Patchwork Times hosted a Quiltathon today, and as I am on a mini vacation, I was able to participate! Thanks, Judy, it was fun!

I've been working on DD's string quilt, and finally got the last square done. Well, actually, I needed about 40 more, but don't have any more of the center strip fabric. I can't seem to find it on eBay, in any of the quilt shops, or in Google anywhere. It would help if I could remember the manufacturer or the name of the line, but I've had those strips cut for months and the selvages are long gone. I can't even remember where or when I bought it. And since DD wanted all the center strips the same, I may have to put on a very wide border to make it large enough to snuggle up in.

Here's the final stack:

See the center strips? Kind of a dark grayish blue with streaks of raindrops. Does anyone out there know the name of the manufacturer or the designer or the line? Do I dare hope anyone out there has some of this fabric you'd like to trade or sell me? Email me if you have any info for me, please.

At the hospital, we're having March of Dimes contests. The different units and/or departments are competing against each other for fundraising. ICU and Tele combined to provide lasagna boxed dinners, but anything we have to raffle is appreciated, too. So I thought I'd put together a scrappy baby rail fence.

I've spent today cutting out and sewing together all the strips. Of course, I did some frog stitching, too. I am just not a pastel type of girl, and I had to throw in some darker/brighter fabrics. Then I hated the way they looked so took apart about 11 blocks and recut fabric and resewed the blocks. The blocks are all done, but not together, and I haven't decided what to use for the binding and the backing yet.

Here it is partially laid out:


So, do you want me to post the tutorial for the string quilt now, or wait until I have DD's quilt all finished? Or at least the blocks all sewn together? I've taken all the photos up to this point, including some sample layouts. Just let me know!

Now, I'm off to fire up the C-PAP and get ready for bed. This is the 3rd mask and it looks like it might be a keeper. Still some glitches to work out, but this is a good week for it. Tomorrow morning will be the first area bee I've been able to attend since Christmas, and I am looking forward to it. The new leaders are far more experienced than my last co-leader and I and it seems to really be picking up.

'Night all!

Magic Moments Monday

Welcome to the 3rd weekly edition of Magic Moments Monday. If you haven't participated before, here are the guidelines:

Mondays, for most people, are the "Ho hum, weekend's over, work is WORK, and can't wait 'til Friday" type of day. My intent is to help us begin our week with something positive, something to hold on to, to get us through the rest of the week. Your entry can be a Scripture verse, a quote, an insight, something that touched your life or changed the way you look at things. I expect some of the first entries to be from the past, until we learn to look each day for those magic moments that remind us how wonderful life really is.

Please leave a comment with a way to find your post, either the link through your signature, or insert the link, so we can all read your experience. Then, on your post, link back to this post, so others visiting you can participate if they'd like.
I hope to have us a logo by next week so you can post it on your site.

Back in 1983, due to a series of events over which we had no control, J-Man injured his back (this was after the stroke) and was put through a pain management program, which his insurance refused to pay for. He was not allowed to work, but he was not receiving any paychecks. All at once, we were down to half our former income, and all our former outgo. We tried to deed the house back to the mortgage company in lieu of foreclosure, but they wouldn't allow it. This was at a time when interest rates were 14%. So, we found ourselves under foreclosure, with nowhere to go. On top of it all, J-Man's mother, whom he had not seen in many years, was dying of cancer.

I won't go into the full story of his dysfunctional family's dynamics, but suffice it to say his mother had abandoned him and the other 4 kids when he was age 2. His stepdad, whom he had never met, offered to fly him and a sister out to NM to spend some time with his Mom before she died. J-Man felt the need for closure, so he went. While there, he told his stepdad about our current situation. Bill, an alcoholic, offered to let us live with him until we got back on our feet. I think he was probably under the influence when he offered, because he seemed totally shocked when we accepted, but we were desperate. Our only other offer was from a brother in North Dakota, who "thought" he might be able to get J-Man a job at his truck stop, and that was just too iffy. AND too cold.

So we had a huge yard sale to reduce the furniture we would have to ship, gave the dog away, and the two of us plus our 5-year-old daughter headed for New Mexico. I had to get out the Rand McNally just to see where it was! We weren't sure we were doing the right thing, moving 1400 miles away from our families, to live with an alcoholic in a tiny little house, in a 1-hospital town, but we didn't think we had any other options.

As we were headed west across the eternally long state of Texas that dreary September day, hashing it all over yet again, a ray of sunlight burst through the clouds and lit up the road directly on the horizon. There were no other rays anywhere--only clouds and dimness. We looked at each other and had the same response: this was a sign from God that we were doing the right thing. We didn't question it any more.

Not that everything was all roses and gumdrops. Not at all. But there were reasons for us to be out west, and experiences we never would have had and people now important to us whom we never would have met if we had stayed in Alabama. We were where He wanted us to be.

I wish it was always that clear, but it doesn't seem to be. Maybe I'm not looking in the right direction, or maybe I'm not as receptive. Because sometimes God has to bop me on the head a bit.

Your turn!

MMM follow-up

Well, it was not a good week for finding something positive to say to everyone all the time. In fact, I pretty much failed at it. I tried. No, really, I did.

We had a situation. Our 8-bed unit was full, ICU was full, and between us, we were 3 people short. My little orientee, now on her own, but still on my schedule for assistance, was struggling to handle her assignment. She had a patient who really should have been in ICU, but they, as mentioned before, had no beds. I was so busy with my patients, I couldn’t do more than shoot off advice as we passed in the med room. In addition, the phone was ringing off the desk, call lights were going off in 3 rooms at once, and there was no one to help.

A man appeared before me. A very irate man. A very irate man whose mother had called for Morphine 30 minutes after taking another narcotic, and hadn’t gotten it. A nurse had tripped over her IV earlier in the day and half the day was spent in X-Ray trying to replace it, and the nurse hadn’t even apologized. There wasn’t even ICE WATER in her pitcher to comfort her, for God’s sake! She was one of us (a CNA from a physician's office), but he knew there were priority patients. He was going to take this up with Someone In Charge in the morning.

I listened with what I hoped was a caring look on my face. I apologized for the day nurse’s clumsiness. I informed him Debbie had asked me about the morphine and I had advised her to wait and reassess his mom to insure she did not get over-sedated. I would have Debbie reassess her now. I promised to go fetch the ice water right away, even though I was holding the pain pills for my post-op patient in my hot little hand. And ALL of our patients are our priority. But when he spouted off that “this was supposed to be a special care unit, For Crying Out Loud!” I forgot my resolution.

“Sir, look around you,” I told him as I waved my hand around the unit. “Do you SEE anyone else here? No? That's because there are only the two of us, running our butts off, and we are doing the best we can. I’m sorry that’s not good enough for you.” He walked off without another word. So did I.

In retrospect, I still can’t think of anything positive to say to that man. He made Debbie cry.

Rainy Day

Woohoo!! I have the next 7 nights off! A mini Home Vacation, if you will. After last night, which started out being Chapter 3 of Hell As We Know It, I made it known at work that I don't care if the whole place comes down with the Bubonic Plague, I am NOT coming in, so don't call me.

Well, that's not entirely the truth. I might come in if I (1) answer the phone (not bloody likely), (2) accomplish everything I want to do in the first 3 days (ditto) (3) have a weak moment. (Nope. Not gonna happen.)



Today has been wonderfully rainy, complete with thunder. A little south of us they are under tornado watch, but here, we're just getting rain. Lovely, drenching rain. It's been so dry the last year; we have desperately needed days like this. I'm itching to get out and fertilize the lawn and maybe re-seed the increasingly larger bare spots after it's over.




Tandi, on the other hand, is NOT happy about the thunder. She makes a leap for my lap each time it happens, and 24 pounds of anxious cocker spaniel is no small force when it hurtles at your chest.

Rainy days are the biggest obstacles to successful housebreaking. Little Miss Prissy Feet will not willingly go into her leaky bathroom unless she gets major treats or Momma goes with her. This poses a problem when Momma sleeps, because J-Man can't go in and out with her. Of course, since DD brought The Puppy home a couple of weeks ago, Tandi has figured it's okay to potty on the kitchen floor, or worse, the carpet. AND she has ventured into previously unsoiled rooms.

I was about to resign myself to just getting puppy pads for rainy days, when I had a flash of inspiration. I put about half a dozen pennies in an empty coke can, taped it up and kept it close by. Monday night, when she deliberately squatted to pee on the carpet, I yelled "NO!" and threw the coke can towards her.

Remember, she has always been easily startled by ordinary house noises anyway. Well, this really freaked her out. I opened the front door, she left like her stub of a tail was on fire, and after cleaning it up, I had to coax her back into the house. She lay on her favorite place, the back of the couch, and just looked at me. And looked at me. And then she put her head down on her paws and looked at me. And when I went to pet her later, she flinched.

Broke my heart. I felt SO guilty.

But you know, she hasn't had an "accident" in the house since.

Drastic times....

Joshua Sams

If you've been following Joshua's story, there is a new development. His encephalocele burst and the family is gathering. Please say prayers for this marvelous little boy and his unbelievably supportive family.

My prayers are pretty much wordless right now...

For our vets

Mighty Mom posted a link to this Monday March 10 entry by blogger Lucy, of Lucy's Frugal Living. Folks, you have to read this--and grab a kleenex first.

Thanks for the link, Sarah, and Lucy, thanks for posting it. I've copied it and sent it in an email to many friends.

http://lucysfrugalliving.blogspot.com/

Magic Moments Monday

Late again! Same song, second verse--got called in to work until 2am last night then had a 10am appointment. So let me jump in without further delay!

A reminder about the reason and how to participate:

Mondays, for most people, are the "Ho hum, weekend's over, work is WORK, and can't wait 'til Friday" type of day. My intent is to help us begin our week with something positive, something to hold on to, to get us through the rest of the week. Your entry can be a Scripture verse, a quote, an insight, something that touched your life or changed the way you look at things. I expect some of the first entries to be from the past, until we learn to look each day for those magic moments that remind us how wonderful life really is.

Please leave a comment with a way to find your post, either the link through your signature, or insert the link, so we can all read your experience. Then, on your post, link back to this post, so others visiting you can participate if they'd like.
I am woefully computer illiterate so don't know how to make a logo or do the Mr. Linky thing, so we'll just bunt for now, okay?

Okay!

Each year our hospital puts on a "Competency Fair", where there are "stations" set up about techniques, new equipment, etc. I grumble about going in on my offdays, but it really is a good refresher. This year, they are calling for everyone to bring in their quick and easy recipes, so I assume someone in Education is putting together a cookbook of sorts to distribute. Well, I am all about getting the cooking over and done with ASAP, so I pulled out some of my trusty recipes and grabbed a deck of rubberbanded (is that a real word?) 3x5 cards to write on.

Some of the cards were yellowed on the edges and when I pulled them from the stack, found a bunch of quotes I had posted on my bulletin board at an office job I held years ago. Wow! There were some great quotes there, and I had forgotten most of them. As I sifted through them, I came across one that really stood out--well, 2 actually--but the second one is another post. This is by Charles T Jones, from a book he wrote, entitled "Life is Tremendous".

In the first chapter are three guidelines to improving your outlook on life:
1) Be learning to say something positive to everybody all the time.
2) Be learning to see something positive in everything that happens.
3) Be learning to See It Big and Keep It Simple--SIBKIS.

#1 reminded me of a compliment one of my patients gave me many years ago. First you have to understand, I am not a pretty person. I might have been okay-looking for a few years in my early 20's, but I was always a chubby little girl with glasses who grew into a fat teenager with glasses and braces and became a fat woman with glasses and slightly crooked teeth. (Let's just say the braces worked only temporarily.) I am under no delusions about my looks.

But one night, as I was busy with an older gentleman in CCU, he told me "You know, you have a nice mouth." I stammered something, don't remember what, but first chance I got, I looked in the mirror, and you know, I DO have a nice mouth. That was not an earth-shattering statement; in fact, he probably forgot me and what he said within 2 weeks of leaving the hospital, but I won't ever forget it. At a time when this man was dealing with serious cardiac issues, he took the time to give me a compliment. And he made me feel pretty for a while. He probably had no idea the impact that one little compliment has had on another human being.

So I am going to work on step #1 this week--be learning to say something positive to everybody all the time. Because it doesn't cost me anything, but it might make someone's day a little brighter.

Your turn!

My Sponsored Daughters

This past week I got my newest sponsorship package. I've just finished filling out the folder for her, with a current photo and our information and tucked in a couple of coloring book pages for her.

So I thought I'd share these photos of my two girls:

On the left is Dalia, now 15 years old, from a family of 6, living in El Salvador. She's learning to do hair, and maybe will learn dressmaking. She's not attending school, since her mother pulled her out (I don't know why), but the Compassion Center is doing their best to teach her a trade, a way to provide for herself.

On the right is Aduri, 8 years old, from Bangladesh, who waited for over 6 months for a sponsor. Workers in her village earn up to $22/month. I can make more than that in an hour. How could I not send $32 each month to help support her and her family of 6?

I am their only sponsor. I send them letters and stickers and photos and postcards, and they send me about 3 letters/year. They know my name, I know theirs. It is a relationship.

If you haven't been over to Compassion's website to look at those beautiful faces, please take some time to do so, and see if you can find it in your heart and in your wallet to make a difference in a family's life. These people don't have access to health care, to free birth control, to food stamps or government assistance. They are fortunate if they have electricity and clean water. And if you can't sponsor a child right now, consider a donation to one of their programs: Their unsponsored child program, which helps care for children waiting to be sponsored, or maybe their Child Survivor Program, which teaches mothers prenatal care, and how to treat dehydration, etc.
THey have a program for AIDS victims, and one to treat/prevent malaria, and a program for assisting victims of the earthquake in Peru.

There are so many ways we can make a difference in this world, that sometimes we can get overwhelmed. This is one of the ways I have chosen to give back some of what I have been given. I also like to donate to USO for our troops, and Habitat for Humanity, because they don't just give houses away, they empower people to change their own lives.

THere are so many worthwhile causes out there. How do you choose who gets your assistance? What are your soft spots? Your favorite charities? Maybe some of you are looking for worthy projects or programs to help. I'd love to hear all your input!

Name Change

Well, folks, it seems we have a slight glitch here. A Very Nice Lady named Beth over at A Mom's Life started a weekly topic entitled "Miracle Monday". Today. Yep. Great minds think alike, huh?

Now, Beth is calling for posts about miracles you have been a part of, witnessed, or heard of that inspired you, and it's a wonderful idea. But the name is so similar, there's already been a mix-up, and it is not my intention to cause confusion in Blogland.

So I'm going to change this slightly, and call it Magic Moments Monday.

Since my focus is on anything positive that helps us make it through a week, such as quotes, Scripture, "AHA" moments, anecdotes, insights, etc., I'm hoping there will be enough difference that both Blogs will benefit. Also, we might have different visitors. And if Magic Moments Monday undergoes a quiet little demise, well, then, just head on over to A Mom's Life and add your thoughts to the wonderful posts her blog has inspired.

Sweet dreams, all.

It's Magic (Moments) Monday

First off, I apologize for being a little late getting this post up. One of the gals called in sick for last night and I split the shift with someone, getting home and to bed at 2am. I fully intended to have this entry all written out and ready to post before now! lol

So, a quick reminder about how it works:

Mondays, for most people, are the "Ho hum, weekend's over, work is WORK, and can't wait 'til Friday" type of day. My intent is to help us begin our week with something positive, something to hold on to, to get us through the rest of the week. Your entry can be a Scripture verse, a quote, an insight, something that touched your life or changed the way you look at things. I expect some of the first entries to be from the past, until we learn to look each day for those magic moments that remind us how wonderful life really is.

Please leave a comment with a way to find your post, either the link through your signature, or insert the link, so we can all read your experience. Then, on your post, link back to this post, so others visiting you can participate if they'd like.
I am woefully computer illiterate so don't know how to make a logo or do the Mr. Linky thing, so we'll just bunt for now, okay?

Now, I'll start us off.

I gripe a lot about my job (I'm a hospital-based nurse), sometimes on this blog, most of the time to my long-suffering husband. Today I am going to list 5 things I am thankful for about this job, and try to keep these in the front of my mind when things spiral out of (my) control at work.

1. I'm thankful I HAVE a job. One of the other small hospitals in this part of NC just lost their funding from Medicare/Medicaid, and several insurance companies. Services there are severely limited now, and at least 5 of their nurses just hired on at our hospital, fearing the other one will have to close down and they will lose their source of income. Kinda puts things in perspective for me.

2. I'm grateful for patients (and the family members)who say "Thank you." Those two words go a long way when my back and shoulders are hurting, when my feet are a little swollen, when another patient is irritable, and I feel as if I can't get it all done in 12 hours.

3. I'm thankful for the flexibility of my schedule. We are a small hospital, and telemetry is a small unit, and we pretty much write our own schedules. If there is a conflict about days off, we work it out with each other. Therefore, I don't have to work more than 3 shifts in a row if I don't want to (and I don't) and I can have 2 nights off in a row (which equals one full day).

4. I'm grateful for managers who stand up for us with administration, who try their darndest to hire good nurses, not just warm bodies, and who are not too good to roll up their sleeves and work right alongside us. I'll even work 4 shifts in a row (occasionally) for them!

5. I'm thankful for my co-workers, the gals and guys of telemetry and ICU, who pitch in and help put orders in the computer when we're swamped with admissions, who rush to our aid when a patient is going bad, who ask "How is it going with the C-PAP?", and split a shift when someone is down with the flu. Come to think of it, I believe I'll make a batch of cookies to take in tomorrow night to show MY thanks!

Okay, I think I'm going to print this off and carry it around with me for those days when working McDonald's during lunch hour looks preferable to what I do.

Your turn!