Wet Windy Day

Good windy, wet morning! The wind blew all night and the rain has been pouring off and on. When I told Joseph it was time to get up he said, “But it’s too dark.” Only due to the clouds and rain. It is currently 55° which beats out even Dublin at 46°. It’s too warm, in my opinion, but I’ll have to wear a jacket anyway because of the rain.

What an interesting day yesterday. When I got home from class, there were two sets of papers on my laptop. Paul and I have each been summoned because of the accident in Worcester on December 13, 2011. The passenger is suing. Not the operator of the other vehicle but the passenger. The wording is ridiculous. It’s almost laughable. I am not sure if we can countersue because we would need to be suing the operator of the other vehicle but I’m sure we’ll be finding out. Just for mental stress and anguish of not only the accident but for reason why we were in Worcester at that time in the first place and for this new issue I would be more than happy to sue for $500,000. Would it solve anything? No. Would it make me feel better? No. Will it happen? I don’t know. The whole thing is annoying.

Laura wasn’t home when I got home and didn’t get home until 7:00. She’d gone to the Armstrong’s and forgot to turn off the headlights so the battery was drained. It wouldn’t jump so they used a charger and it took forever. Joseph and I needed to leave at 4:00 to go to the Carriage House and we ended up not going because I wasn’t going either leave Cedric and Seth home alone or take them with us. Amena wasn’t home and her being home would have made no difference in my choices or decision.

Laura was supposed to pick Amena up on her way home since she was so late but she missed the turn because it was so foggy so she picked up Cedric and Seth and they helped her find the Hobby’s house which is where Amena was. They go right by every day on the bus so they knew how to get there. Then they went to church. Paul picked Joanna up and brought her home and Joseph and I stayed home. He watched one of The Land Before Time movies while I talked to Diane on the phone and read Economics.

Right now Joanna and Laura are getting ready to drive to the Cape so that Joanna can get a Jeep. She’s pretty excited. I wish I could go because neither of them has much experience and getting through Worcester is going to be a pain unless they do it early enough to miss all the traffic. If all goes well, they should be. Once they’re home again and I can breathe, I will be happy.

Now I’m going to be off. There is much to do and never enough time. Have a wonderful day!

Drippy Day

Well, a good morning to you! It is foggy and drippy (what’s happening outside can’t be considered rain but it is definitely drippy—kind of like the gathering of condensation [fog] on the roof until it’s heavy enough to fall off)  here in Hubbardston and a nice relatively warm 36°. We are supposed to get up to the low 50s today; we’ll see how that goes. It looks like we are warmer than both Bonners Ferry (standing at 32° currently) and Yreka (26°? Keep warm, Grandma!). However, Dublin, Ireland, where it is illegal to own a gun, is a sultry 42° and looks like rain. To be as green as it is there, they must get a lot of rain. More than I would care to live in.

Yesterday and the day before were pretty okay days. I lived through  my first Economics class and then my first Strategic Management class. Wow. Same professor, completely different classes. Already I want to go through the marketing plan I did for my marketing plan last semester and rework it. At least the SWOT analysis—there is so much more to that than listing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Wow.

It is really cool, I think, that not only is there someone I know in my Economics class (two actually), but one of them is in my group (lots of group projects in both classes). The other person I know in Economics is in my SM class and she and I are in the same group. So, pretty cool.

Today I have Economics and there is a paper due. I need to go print it out but thought I’d check in here first since I neglected to do so yesterday. I was working on the paper instead of writing here so I think my absence is excusable. Today I need to finish up an accounting assignment and start on another. And do some reading. A LOT of reading.

AD, it is nice to hear that you are involved in music. One of the things I often think of in conjunction with you is music. Speaking of such things, Cedric has decided that he wants to play the saxophone in band. I may have found someone who has one we can use, if not, I’ll have to rent one for him. I hope he keeps with the violin as well because I think they are incredibly versatile and beautiful.

Joseph gets to go to the Carriage House this afternoon/evening for the first time this school year. He’s had some behavioral issues this year and although they seem to be dissipating for the most part, I hope that returning to the Carriage House might fix the residual issues.

Currently, I am ready to be off to do other things so I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Another Short

Good morning!

Seth had a good birthday yesterday. I don’t think I’ll get pictures downloaded in order to post them with this but I will in the next day or so. He got some kind of cool things such as a General Grievous mask and a Darth Maul transformer. He wanted chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate ice-cream so that’s what he got.

Because it was stake conference and the drive to Ludlow is not really one I want to make, we went to church in Worcester yesterday. Other than the fact that the girls were not ready in time, it was pretty okay. Since we usually do this, some people are beginning to recognize us (Paul many of them already knew).

Due to how my back feels this morning (annoyed but not downright angry), I am really glad we did not go to Ludlow. Worcester is 30 minutes of driving, three hours of sitting (with time to walk for a couple of minutes between each hour), and 30 more minutes of driving. Ludlow would have about 90 minutes of driving, an hour of waiting, two hours of sitting, 90 minutes of driving.

This morning I need to read another economics chapter before class at 11:00 so this post will be rather short.

In fact, I think it’s over. Have a WONderful day!

Short and Sweet

Good morning! Tomorrow is Seth’s ninth birthday. Time surely does fly.

Yesterday I did a lot of reading. Today I need to do a lot of reading.

Yesterday morning I took the ham off the hambones and put the bones on to boil. Kiddos had ham and mashed potatoes for supper. We’ll have the ham broth for something but I’m not sure what yet—soup, beans, something.

Yesterday evening Paul and I went to Jim and Karen Dusty’s for supper. We hadn’t been to their new house yet so it was a choice of going to their house or meeting them at Spencer to go to the Mexicali Grill. Next time we’ll go to the Mexicali because, you know, the food is so awful, the service stinks, and the Dusty’s go there just about every week.

Currently, Joanna is still abed, Paul is reading in bed. Laura is wandering around. Seth had green eggs and ham for breakfast, Joseph had yellow eggs and ham. Cedric and his brothers had yogurt. Amena had a potato fried with onion and jalapeño and salt and oregano. Most of us who are awake had hot chocolate.

It is 10° here, 32° in Bonners Ferry, 39° in Yreka, and 48° in Dublin, Ireland. If you want to know why that is on my computer, ask Laura.

I hope you all have a splendid day and I’ll talk (or write) at you later.

Hot Chocolate and Cheesecake

And a good morning to you! Sunny and clear again with the mercury dipping below freezing but at least not below 0° F. It is a relatively balmy 6° in Hubbardston, MA. A perfect morning for enjoying a piece of birthday cheesecake and a cup of hot chocolate to which two spoons of fake coffee have been added. Also a good day to boil a couple of ham bones in order to turn them into soup or something tomorrow. The ham will be used for this and that until it is gone beginning with tonight with gravy and maybe tomorrow with noodles and broccoli.

Having finished my internship, I figured it was high time to begin applying for jobs so yesterday while I was out and about, I dropped off a cover letter and resume to go with an application at Heywood Hospital. It is nearby and the position I applied for is only 20 hours/week. I think I could handle that and school and family. I’d really like to find something that is about one day/week.

The white car (it is a Prizm) was insured and registered yesterday. Laura was pretty excited. She went picked up Ellie Armstrong and they went to watch The Hobbit. She got a headlight and was attempting to replace it before taking Ellie home but it was proving to be more difficult than she anticipated so I took Ellie home in the red Prizm. I had just enough gas in the tank to get home and I figured I’d have to get some today otherwise be able to go nowhere. On my way home, Paul called and said to go pick him up at Robbie’s because he’d broken down. He isn’t sure what is wrong with the Jetta but it is not functioning currently. We got gas and came home and he told me that he’d first called the house and Laura had set out to get him but because it was so cold, the hood hadn’t latched properly and so it flew up and now needs to be replaced. The moral of the story: yesterday was a bad day for white cars.

Today I have much reading to do in order to have everything read that needs to be for classes next week. I already have my assignments for accounting so I need to get going on them because they are due at the end of next week.

That’s about it. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

-2 and 220

Good morning! What a beautiful day it is outside! Sunny and clear! And COLD! Here in Hubbardston, it is currently, according to my computer, -2°. Just for comparison, Bonners Ferry is at 32° and Yreka 38°. I am glad that I do not have to go out this morning even though it isn’t all that warm even in the house (it is certainly warmer that outside for certain).

I am all done with my internship. After thirteen days and 100 hours, I have 220 official venipunctures (one that I didn’t count because it was after I’d already filled out my paperwork) and 57 dermal punctures. I did a little math last night to figure out how many total venipunctures I’d have done given that we needed to perform them successfully at least 90% of the time and it was 245 which means I could have missed up to 25. Quite honestly, it was probably close to that number. I had at least four days of only missing one and two of only missing two which comes to a total of missing eight in six days which leaves seventeen for the remaining seven days which is 2.3333… for each of those days and that sounds reasonable. Quite frankly, I think there should be two columns for each venipunctures and dermal punctures: attempted and successful. Or maybe successful and not successful although I like the sounds of attempted and successful better. Anyway, now I wait for everything to be filled out and filed. Then I can take my papers and apply to take the certifying test which costs $135. In the meantime, I can still apply for phlebotomy jobs which I intend to do and in fact have already done one.

This morning before going out the door, Amena handed me a cookie and said, “Here, you should eat this one; it’s the last one of the good ones. The rest are burnt.” The rest aren’t really burnt but they are more baked. She can be very sweet.

Yesterday I got a text message from Laura saying that the principal had called and wanted me to call her. Well, by the time I got it, I couldn’t call her because it was too late. I figured I had some sleuthing to do when I got home. It didn’t take much. Cedric told me that the principal was going to call me. I told him she already had but that I hadn’t spoken to her. He said he took a phone and hid, waiting for her to call. His plan was to answer in a deep voice hoping to sound like an adult. I’m sure she would have figured it out but it was a bit comical. What happened is that Cedric was sent to the office because he said a word. There is a boy in his class who has ‘trigger’ words and actions. There are words that you cannot say and actions you cannot perform around him because they send him into a conniption. One of those words is ‘sideburns’ and two of the actions are rubbing the side of your face (where a sideburn might be) or raising your eyebrows. The kid would die here with all the eyebrow raising that goes on. Personally, I think it’s a child who has not learned self-control probably helped by his parents pandering to his every whim. I suppose it is possible that someone who had sideburns who was constantly stroking them could have done something to this child at an earlier age but where would the eyebrow raising and the fact that ‘potato’ used to be a trigger word come into play? Perhaps this presumed person who did something to this child also constantly raised his/her eyebrows and said or ate potatoes. I don’t know. What I do know is that I think it’s ridiculous that everyone gets in trouble when it is one child who has the problem. It’s like punishing the multitude for the sins of one.

This brings to mind the last child I saw yesterday afternoon. His mother brought him in for some bloodwork (ha ha, that’s funny, I know. Blood work at a lab? Who’d have thought?). This child had a Lego magazine in hand. Mother was asked if she’d like to hold child on her lap. She was very indecisive and ultimately let the choice be that of the child. He ended up on her lap. He wanted to see the needle and to know if it was small. He was shown the butterfly needles which are shorter and one is smaller in diameter than the straight needles. He was shown the largest straight needle (which could look fearsome to a child). Satisfied for the moment, he sat on his mother’s lap and began ‘reading’ his magazine. He said that he’d let them know when he was ready but did let the phlebotomist doing the draw tie the tourniquet and look at his arm so they’d be ready when he was. He was taking forever. When it came time, he had a fit; began crying and kicking and just generally not being cooperative. Bridgette offered to let him pinch her (I wouldn’t have). Nothing helped, nothing worked. He had to ‘calm down.’ Once he was calm on the outside, the phlebotomists asked if they could proceed. No, he still needed to calm down. He’d read this page and then do it. The phlebotomists were getting a bit annoyed. The waiting area was filling up and there were only the two of them left. Finally, it was decided that dad would bring child back in the morning (I wish I could be there to see how dad deals with child) when there were more phlebotomists on duty and they could take him up to pediatrics if necessary because they are trained to hold children for such procedures.

I tell ya, I would not have tolerated such behavior. This child was dictating and the mother was not doing anything other than encourage his behavior. In such instances, the phlebotomists are rather restricted because they cannot dictate to the parent what to do and certainly cannot do to the child anything without parental consent. What fun.

Today I have class. I don’t remember which one because I have two in the same room by the same instructor. One is Monday/Wednesday one is Tuesday/Thursday. I do not have books yet. The combined total for books if I have to get all new ones is over $700. What makes text books worth that much, I’d like to know. What makes people think students can afford to pay prices of over $200 per book, I’d like to know. I have $70 left of financial aid. I don’t think it’s going to go far.

There is much laundry to be done including the load I just put in the dryer which I need before taking a shower. For now, I believe I will be off.

Have a wonderful day!

The Tricks Children Play

Oh, the tricks children play! Cedric came to me a bit ago and said, “Mom! Seth is in the bathroom getting his hair wet in the sink!” This while the shower was going. I went upstairs to find out what was going on and Seth did indeed have the shower on (you can’t miss it—it sings) as well as the water in the sink. I opened the door to find a fully dressed Seth with a semi-wet head and a towel around his neck. I made him get in the shower and had Cedric take him a wash cloth with instructions to scrub. And then scrub some more. I wonder if he did this last week as well. . .

Well, it’s been a few days. Today is a wonderful day because it is the day that one of my favorite cousins was born. Happy Birthday, David! I hope your day has been and continues to be as enjoyable for you as it is for me when I have a really good draw.

The week has been eventful and long and short and busy and crazy and everything else all rolled up in one. I do like drawing blood. I do not like missing and have yet to have a day with no misses. It is somehow reassuring, however, when I do miss and the phlebotomist who has many years’ experience also has a hard time successfully finding a vein. It is annoying when I am right there and miss because I did not properly anchor a vein.

Yesterday was pretty awesome. I told Bridgette that I wouldn’t see anyone I knew because I just don’t know anyone in Worcester. Yesterday, however, an older gentleman walked in and behind him was a woman I knew. Her name is Karen and she is the grandmother of a boy who was in the group that Joanna and Amena were in at the Carriage House. The only reason I wanted Amena to go was so I could visit with Karen because she is one of the most authentic people I know. She reminds me of a cross between Gammy and Grandma. She often spoke of her uncle George and it is he who walked into the lab. It was Bridgette’s turn so I got to visit with Karen briefly. As it turns out, the woman who is in charge of that group never got ahold of her and so they haven’t even gone this year so I haven’t missed anything. That was cool.

There is so much more that I could say but I just don’t feel like it. Perhaps you might remind me to tell you about the bonds if I feel like.

I hope your week has been splendiferous! Hopefully I’ll be back before next Saturday (I should be—I should be done with my internship Wednesday).

Just One of Those Days

Good morning. Today is one of those days when I’d like to crawl into a hole. It is one of those days when I feel I have about as much control of self as the boys often exhibit. It is one of those days when I really just don’t feel like doing anything. And one of those days when I cannot just do nothing.

Friday was a pretty good day. Of my seventeen attempted venipunctures, sixteen were successful. Of my only attempted dermal puncture, it was successful. Fridays are often slow we were told and it was a slowish day. However, because Thursday was rather chaotic and lacked any sense of flow, we were able to accomplish more venipunctures Friday than Thursday.

We left about five minutes before five and I was happy to discover that leaving five minutes early resulted in arriving home 20 minutes earlier than any day previously in the week. That gave me 20 minutes to sit with Joseph and talk about his day and week. If given the opportunity to leave early this coming week, I will jump on it.

On the other hand, I was going to see about going in half an hour to an hour later and leaving that much later as well. Then I would be able to go down with Paul which would relieve me of having to drive which would be nice.

One of the reasons I have been somewhat cross this morning is because of my back. Wednesday it was feeling pretty good. In spite of the fact that I’d been regularly taking my heavy duty ibuprofen, I felt pretty good when I got home. I could get out of the Jetta and was able to walk into the house without having to stand by the car for a minute to straighten up and feel like I wasn’t going to break. When I drove the van to church, CVS, PriceChopper, Walmart, church and back home, I felt almost as bad as I did when I got home Monday night (like death). I wasn’t feeling too cheerful about getting in the van, even as a passenger, and have another setback. Likewise, I’m not feeling too cheerful about driving the Prizm because I don’t know what it’s going to do to me. With it fixed and home, I’ll get to drive that and Paul will be back in the Jetta.

Also, we’re having Paul’s birthday party today after church and he wanted turkey, etc. That’s fine; I don’t mind. He also wanted to invite people such as the Fuller’s, who’ve never been here to eat, and Ruth, who is often, and Devon and Adam, who both would rather be watching football. That’s fine; I don’t mind that either. We actually often have turkey after church to eat so the whole turkey thing is not a big deal. The big deal is the people who can’t get out of bed to help, especially when I can’t lift anything without feeling it in my back. I want to get over this thing, not keep making it worse. Am I complaining? It feels like it.

Anyway, such is life. I am staying home from church today. I am going to bake rolls while everyone is gone and lie on my bed and read The Fellowship of the Ring. Lying in bed is the only time that my back does not hurt at all. Sometimes it twinges when I move but just lying there is good and about the only thing I want to do.

Tomorrow is another day. We’ll see how I feel about it once today is done which I’m hoping takes a little time.

Have a wonderful day.

Firearms

 Refresher Course ... Simple as this! 1. "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson
2. "Those who trade liberty for security have neither." ~ John Adams
3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms. 4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them. 6. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control. 7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for. 8. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
9. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive. 10. Assault is a behavior, not a device. 11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday. 12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved. 13.. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others. 14. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?
15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.
16. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves. 17. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.


"I love this country, it's the government I'm afraid of"

Shot

Good evening! Highlight of my phlebotomy day: twenty-one successful venipunctures and only one not successful. There was another I could have tried but did not want to. Bridgett did and was not successful. As I recall, even an experienced phlebotomist had trouble with that one. Glad I didn’t give it an attempt.

Other than that, I do not have any interesting stories to tell. Even though today was a good day and I enjoy phlebotomy, I will be glad for this internship to be over.

Oh, I have one thing of slight interest. We were supposed to either get flu shots or wear masks. Neither Bridgett nor I had had a shot but neither of us were going to say anything. Today Frank asked if we’d had them, we had to say no, he said then we have to wear masks (only when actually interacting with patients—not all the time). I don’t like masks. They make my glasses fog up and all that warm air makes my nose run. Therefore, I picked Amena up, we came home, we ate while everyone was getting ready to go to church, I dropped everyone off (except Jonathan and Joseph) and went to CVS to see if I could get a flu shot. I could not because they’d given their last one earlier that day. Price Chopper might be open and had some. We went there. They did. I got one. I can’t believe I did this. How idiotic. Oh well.

Hope you had a wonderful day.

Falling Apart

I do not know how long this will be. Neither am I going to have any hot chocolate.

I do not think that any of the stories I tell here betray confidence. I do not remember names and I do not tell birthdates (I do not remember them generally anyway either). I do think it is interesting how different people are who are born in the same year. I have seen a couple of people who are 90 and still living on their own. One came in today. Her son was with her and she was a bit slow, but she was doing well. Perhaps the reason I think this is interesting is because there are people 10, 20 and even 30 years younger who look to be in worse shape.

Today a girl came in who was born the same year as Daniel. She was afraid of the needle and began to cry when she was stuck. I had to leave the drawing area. I walked around for a minute but there isn’t that much room and you can’t go that far so I had to go in a restroom. I hope her parents realize what a blessing she is.

Also today a little girl had her blood drawn. Her mom was so good with her. This little girl did not cry. Yesterday there were several children who came in and they all cried to some degree (one was quite violent and her mother did little to restrain her so that it took three phlebotomists to accomplish the draw). I mentioned to Dawn that it seems to me that the parents have some influence on their children and how their children react. She said they have a great deal to do with how their children react.

The highlight of the day might have been when one young man came in and neither Bridgett nor I were given the option of attempting to draw him. This, we were told, would happen when the person was known to have an infectious disease or in other cases when they knew the patient wouldn’t want an intern to do it. Usually, the phlebotomist will introduce self and then say, “This is Pam, she is my/our intern. Would it be okay if she draws your blood today?” Thus far, most people are okay with it. Some are not. Today I palpated and didn’t feel confident to make an attempt twice. Once I wasn’t sure but did anyway and missed the vein (which, I am told, was not entirely my fault as the guy was very tall and was leaning over in a manner which made it difficult to draw him). Anyway, neither of us was given the option for this guy. I’m not sure why but he was supposed to have a timed test which included blood cultures. Maybe that is why. Anyway, the first phlebotomist took a look at one arm and found a likely site and was using a butterfly. The guy (patient, not phlebotomist) took the needle and started moving it around searching for a vein. I COULD NOT believe it! Seriously?!? That arm didn’t work and the other was tried. That arm didn’t work so another phlebotomist gave a go on the first arm. It worked. Then, the guy left. He was supposed to have more drawn fifteen minutes after the first and that time was up at 5:00 at which time I was gone so I do not know if he came back for the second draw but none of the phlebotomists on duty was of the opinion they’d be seeing him again today.

Not a bad day. It was more constant than yesterday which was nice. I had 13 successful veinipunctures and three successful finger sticks and got to watch one EKG.

Supper was a crazy affair but everyone is abed now other than Paul who took Jonathan and Elizabeth and Elders Nash and Sanchez back to Fitchburg. The washing machine just finished so I need to put the clothes in the dryer and then head on up to bed. I think I will take another heavy duty pain pill first.

I do not like being gone all day. I feel rather out of touch with the rest of my family. I leave before Paul does. I leave before the kids even get on the bus. I get home when it’s time to eat supper. That leaves from then until bedtime which is 8:00 for interactions with children. No wonder society is falling apart.

Anyway, I am off.

Day One

Hello again. This might not be as short as yesterday, but it isn’t going to be very long.

Today began my phlebotomy internship. Yesterday my nerves were on edge. Last night I dreamed of owning three nuclear warheads and enduring nuclear leaks. I haven’t had dreams like that for a very long time.

This morning I woke up early because Trista was barking. The darn dog barks at noise she thinks she hears. This morning I don’t know what it was but once she barks, she and Scooter both think they need to go out. I needed to use the bathroom anyway so I got up, let them out, went to the downstairs bathroom and then remembered there was no toilet paper in it so I went back upstairs to that bathroom. I did what needed to be done, went back down and let Trista in. Scooter was nowhere to be seen. I walked to one end of the driveway and then the other, calling her the entire time because she can hear even if she can’t see. No Scooter. I figured I should go out looking for her so I did. There was a hanger jammed under the seat of the Jetta so that I couldn’t get it moved up far enough. I finally got that out but it still wouldn’t go up far enough. There was a glove in the way which I finally got out of the way. I drove a short distance each way and saw no Scooter. I came home and she had just been let in. Darn dog.

In my morning activities to that point, I did something that my back did not like. It hurt in the shower, although the hot water felt good. The heated seat in the Jetta driving to Worcester felt nice but when I got out, I didn’t want to move further. Walking around and drawing blood was not a big deal because walking and standing don’t hurt and they have seats for people to sit in that are high enough that the phlebotomist doesn’t have to bend over too far. By the time we were done, I was ready to go home and my back did hurt but not like it did after sitting for 45 minutes. The heated seat felt good on the way home but not good enough. When I got home, I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to get OUT of the car. I did, although it took a couple of minutes, and again walking and standing wasn’t bad. I took a heavy duty ibuprofen and had some supper and I feel okay now. I might take one with me to take once I get there tomorrow.

My phlebotomists name is Dawn and she reminds me of a cross between a friend, Julie McLeish, and her sister, Kathy Stonehocker. She is nice and knows her stuff which I would imagine is one reason why she can have someone follow her. As part of our internship, we are supposed to complete 100 successful venipunctures (or a combination of them and finger sticks). Today I did one finger stick and eight venipunctures successfully. One finger stick I did alright but the blood wouldn’t drop where I wanted it to so I didn’t count it successful. I attempted three venipunctures that were not successful. One of them was just that I needed to pull the needle out a bit. Most people are quite willing to have an intern draw them but some are not. It is amazing how many people will say that they have to have a ‘butterfly.’ I think that some of them are right but I would expect that they all don’t. One woman came in and saw me and Bridgett (the other intern and wanted to know if we’d done more than one draw. Bridgett said, oh, yes, we’d been there all day drawing people! That isn’t at all what the woman wanted to hear; she wanted someone with experience. She was quite relieved when Bridgett’s phlebotomist, Joseph, told her he’d actually been drawing for a few years. Anyway, it was an interesting day. I am glad it is over and I will be very glad when the three weeks are done.

Now, I am going to go. The bed is calling me. So alluring is the call that I am not even going to make the hot chocolate that I would really like to have before retiring.

Good night!

Amena's 13th Birthday

This is what happens the day after you have friends over and don't sleep all night.
This was taken in the afternoon the following day.
Silly girls.

The birthday candles. Aren't they groovy?

She saved their heads! Whew, what a relief!

The two cakes. Guess which one is ice-cream.

Carefully opening.

Cedric trying not to have his picture taken. Didn't work.

This one wanted his picture taken.

More carefulness. If we do her ears again, she's set.

Sisterly love. Isn't it wonderful?

From behind.

From the front.

This one had Cedric's interest. Amena was being careful. As usual.

It's hard to get good ones of this girl sometimes.
As you can see, today was one of those times.

Cool.

No sleepover pictures, sorry.

Shortest Post (For Me) Ever

Hello. I am afraid that this will be very short and that I do not know for certain when I will be back. Sometime in the next week, I am sure. I have some pictures I want to post but otherwise, I just want to go vegetate somewhere. I know that tomorrow will more than likely be fine, but I am not looking forward to it.

Sunshiny (although cold and windy) Day

Good morning! Do you ever just not feel like doing something? That’s how I’ve felt the last couple of days about writing; I just don’t feel like it. I thought that it might be nice to keep you up to date in spite of this so today might be short (although not as short as yesterday) but it will be.

The sun is coming up and there are clouds and it is very pretty this morning. Still cold. We haven’t warmed up to freezing for days and I don’t think our forecast indicates we will until sometime next week. It’s also windy out this morning which makes me very glad that I do not have to be out for anything. I wouldn’t mind going out and exploring on skis but the wind kind of makes me hesitant.

Yesterday morning the Troops came over and I made soap. That was fun. I want to make more soap. I need to make lip balm as well because we’re all out and I just can’t bring myself to buy it at the store when I know I can make better. I picked Amena up early from school so she could go to Walmart and get a few things for her birthday party. Laura mixed up a cake and it was just about done when we got home. That turned out well. I finally made it up to the attic (which was very cold) yesterday evening and went through the scrubs. There are a lot but as we are to wear ‘neutral’ colors and designs and most of the tops are button or snap up (which I do not wear because I do not like them), there are only three tops I would consider and two of the tops are questionable. The bottoms are all too short. The woman who had these must not have been very tall.

Amena’s party turned out to be the triplets for one reason and another. That is okay. I think only one of them slept last night. I came down to let the dogs out and Amena and two of them were in the bathroom. I asked if they slept at all and Amena said, “No.” I wonder when she’ll crash.

I think Paul just turned the shower on.

On my agenda for today is going to Salvation Army to see if they have any scrubs I think would work. I know they have some but it depends on what size and color they happen to have at the moment. If they don’t have any (which I hope they do), I would like to go to the Walmart in Lunenburg because they have some. Actually, I might try the Walmart here first just because it’s closer and I don’t want to be gone all day. I also need to make Creamy Honey Oat Bars because we made the chunks yesterday and I won’t be able to get to it until next Saturday if I don’t do it today (unless I want to do it after children go to bed during the week which I really don’t). I also would like to make lip balm, as I mentioned already. I think that is enough. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it all goes. I’d also like to make a recipe for Neapolitan soap bars and maybe do some reading and knitting. We’ll see. It would be fun to get some pictures of the soapmaking since I didn’t yesterday and the lip balm making.

Have a WONDERFUL day!

C. O. L. D.

C. O. L. D. does not even begin to describe this morning. Depending upon location, it was somewhere below 10°. I do not know what it was here specifically, but it was cold enough that the Jetta did not want to start. It was cold enough that after driving for about 50 minutes to Worcester after letting it warm up for about 15 minutes, the temperature indicator for the engine was going DOWN while idling. There is a time/temp display in Holden on the way and it said 7° when I drove by at about 8:30. COLD.

In other news, my mother got off safely. The last I heard from her she had arrived safely in Washington, DC, and was scheduled to depart for Phoenix at 5:00 pm. I am going to assume (which I normally hate doing) that she got off safely and that she will be texting me once she arrives. She’s pretty good about that. Loooooong layover in DC. I’m glad she had lots of knitting to do.

Joanna conned Adam into driving her to Brewster on the cape somewhere to look at a Jeep. As it turns out, it needs the clutch replaced so I’m glad that Adam went with her rather than me because I might not have caught the problem in time. Other than being cold, it was a nice day for a drive. The guy who has the jeep actually knows one of Cedric’s third grade teacher’s daughters which is kind of cool. They ordered the parts and already let Joanna know that they should be in Monday and they think they’ll be done Wednesday so she’s making plans to go Thursday and pick it up.

Currently, supper, which is warmed up turkey chowder, is ready so I’ll be off for now.

I am back and it is currently 6:55 pm. Cedric is supposedly washing dishes but is actually following Joanna and clapping his hands.

This morning the reason I was driving in the cold (and deciding that since we do not have a heated steering wheel that I need some gloves) to Worcester is because I had an orientation for my phlebotomy clinical which begins Monday morning at 8:30 in Worcester. The orientation was pretty straight forward; we went over HIPPA stuff and confidentiality (which just means that I won’t be telling you any interesting stories regarding any people whose blood I might draw [have you ever drawn blood? Daniel liked to]) and what we should wear and such exciting things. We get to wear scrubs. I wanted to go upstairs and take a look in the attic today when I got home but life was a bit hectic when I got here so I haven’t done it yet. I might still go up and get them and bring them down and then take a look but I also need to get ready to make some soap and should make some chunks for Creamy Honey Oat Bars.

Our instructor told us that we would be doing our internships in Leominster or Worcester which isn’t quite correct. Leominster wasn’t one of the options. There are three, I think in Worcester (two for sure) as well as Spencer, Millbury, and Milford (I think on the two Mil’s). I think there was one other city as well but I don’t remember for sure. Anyway, I got one of the Worcester locations which is good because I already know where it is and it is super easy to get to.

After the orientation, I went to see Christine. She and I took the Basic Midwifery Course together. She and her family moved a few months ago from Littleton to Auburn. Auburn is just south of Worcester; it took me only about 10 minutes to get there. When I arrived, she was gone getting the oil in her van changed. She arrived and we had a good visit. Cooper is two now and cute as can be and Sawyer is a few months old and cute as can be. I got to hold him and talk to him. Cooper loves Cars and told me quite a bit about the ones he has.

Well, it is rather later than it was earlier (9:01) so I am going to call this done for now and move on to something else that does not require sitting in/on a wooden chair. I hope you have all had a WONderful day and that tomorrow is as well.

Brrrrrrrr!

I don’t recall hearing the bus go by but it’s so late that it almost has to have. Already two of the Star Wars mittens my mother made for the boys are missing; one of Cedric’s and one of Joseph’s. Joseph is wearing Seth’s today and I’m not sure what Seth is wearing. It is cold out. According to weather.com, it’s 9° and feels like 1°. Which explains why it is so cool in the house. Not freezing, but definitely cold enough to want long sleeves on.

My mother and Paul were both still abed but one or another of them just got up. It must have been my mother because she’s now down the stairs. Laura is still in bed. Joanna just got done taking hay out to the goats. I need to take a shower because I never got one yesterday. I got a phone call when I should have before we left to take Joanna to work and the missionaries to Chinese and Paul was in the shower then anyway so there might not have been time in the first place. That kind of set me off in a bad mood which wasn’t helped when Paul suggested that he take the missionaries. It isn’t that I particularly wanted to go, it’s just that I would have liked a shower and it isn’t entirely my fault that I didn’t have time for one (I had been waiting for clothes to finish washing and drying and ended up wearing slightly damp jeans which was less than pleasant).

The other day when I was out shoveling in the goat’s pen, my left little finger came in contact with Snowflakes teeth (because they’re too darn curious about everything [I think they have cats beat hooves down] and have to have their noses RIGHT there). That must have been Saturday because it wasn’t Sunday and it wasn’t Monday. Today, it hurts and is red and I squeezed some pussy-looking ooze out of it. I think it needs some peroxide.

On the agenda for today is. . . . I don’t know. Most likely a little laundry. There is a load that needs to be folded in a basket and one that needs to be folded in the dryer and one in the washer that needs to be dried. That would add some warmth to the air in here which would be nice. Pretty exciting. Joanna has work at 10:45. Paul stayed home which is nice because he can relax and hopefully heal. I’m not sure if he plans on getting anything done but he is still asleep.

I think that I will go for now and maybe take a shower.

AD—HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Grandma—all of your children are now in their 60’s. That’s amazing.

Everyone—have a splendiferous day!

Happy New Year!!!

 

Happy New Year!!!

 

I'm just finishing up the old year with some pictures from December and a few words about our New Year's Eve Celebration. My mother pooped out and went to bed. No surprise there. I dropped Laura and Amena off at Trivett's and then went to pick Joanna up from work. I took a book with me in case she didn't get off at 7:15 like she was scheduled to. Well, she didn't. She didn't get off until after 9:00 so it's a good think that I took a book. I read more than 50 pages of The Fellowship of the Ring. Which was nice. I don't often get to read that much in one sitting. Meanwhile at home, everyone there watched G-Force. When Joanna and I finally got home and that movie was over, we made dip and ate chips and dip and then watched Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed. By the time that was done, it was about midnight so everyone was sent to bed and I went to get Laura and Amena. Pretty simple. Pretty quiet. Pretty okay with me.

 

Making cookies on December 26th.

 

Same cookies baked.

 

Chewy Choc-Oat Chip Cookies, Andes Peppermint Chunk Cookies, Andes Mint Chunk Cookies.

 

 

Plain old sugar cookies.

 

Not-so-plain-old-sugar cookies.

The screen house on December 27th.

 

Seth doing a bit of shoveling on December 27th.

 

The screen house again but the next day. Notice the effects of the shining sun. 

 

Some projects are meant to be begun but not finished. This is one of them. It was a good idea but the yarn is just not suited to the project so it will be used for something else and new yarn will be found for this particular project.

The ceiling in the back room. I love it!

The floor in the back room. I love this too!

Some of our lights outside.

The tree on the left. I love the purple lights.

I was trying for more of the lights but got more of the snow. Matters not; I like it.

Laura being Laura. The back room was too cold, I guess and she came out of hibernation to join the rest of us.